Exporting to Australia

There are advantages and also potential challenges for Northern Ireland companies doing business in Australia.

Advantages of exporting to Australia

Australia can offers numerous benefits to companies looking to do business in the region including:

• Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the UK
• the strong Australian dollar makes British products very affordable
• proximity to Asia Pacific economies
• familiar products and service providers
• common language and similar culture
• similar business and legal practices
• similar technical standards
• an extended period of strong economic growth
• strong business and consumer base
• strong technology sector
• similar language, culture and business practices
• high personal wealth
• strong intellectual property (IP) protection

Disadvantages of exporting to Australia

You should also be aware of some challenges you could face when exporting to Australia. It is a large market to do business in which can lead to some unique challenges including:

• Australia is approximately 24 hours away from the UK by plane
• Australia covers three time zones and is as big as the USA
• distances between capital cities are vast, eg Perth is nearly 3,300 kilometres from Sydney
• Australia is between eight and 11 hours ahead of UK time
• weather extremes in winter and summer can have an impact on businesses
• doing business in Australia can be expensive due to the current exchange rate between the two countries