We connect Australian businesses to the rest of the world with our inbound and outbound delivery services, and we are developing relationships with our nearest neighbours to provide pathways for Australian products into these countries.

After several years of very strong growth in our international parcel volumes, our total international volumes declined by 21.4 per cent in 2018/19 due to the impact of a range of factors, including the fall in the value of the Australian Dollar; the introduction of the GST on imported low-value goods; and an increase in the price of untracked packets in China. Despite these challenges, overall international revenue declined only 2.3 per cent on last year, due to price increases on inbound untracked packets and upselling on outbound products.

We enhanced our international product offering this year by developing a New Zealand commercial solution to complement existing postal arrangements. We have more competitive outbound products, which have resulted in an increase of 23.1 per cent in volume purchased by our commercial customers.

Building cross-border eCommerce

We held the inaugural Cross Border eCommerce Expo in May 2019 to give our customers a unique insight into how they can grow their business in China and the ASEAN region. The Expo provided an opportunity to learn about the growth of international markets and the pathways for Australian businesses to supply their products into China and Asia.

We also had a presence at the inaugural China International Import Exhibition (CIIE) in Shanghai, in November 2018, where we hosted 30 Australian brands on the Australia Post stand. This major trade exhibition coincided with China’s biggest online sales event, Singles Day. This year, Australian brands were the third biggest seller in the world on Singles Day, with health and wellbeing products topping the list of the most sought-after items.