The Hon. Joe Szakacs, Minister for Trade and Investment (SA), Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science (SA), Media Release, 6 February 2026
South Australia has officially experienced its strongest four years on record for international trade, with latest ABS stats1 revealing our state’s exporters have sold an additional $21 billion worth of local goods to the world since 2022.
Off the back of concentrated efforts by the Malinauskas Labor Government working in close partnership with our state’s producers and industries, $69 billion worth of local goods were sold in the four years to 31 December 2025.
Each calendar year within this period has eclipsed the pre-2022 record of $13.1 billion by more than $3 billion, with 2023, 2024 and 2025 each exceeding $17 billion.
The $69 billion total is more than 43 per cent higher than the preceding four-year period where just $48 billion of South Australian goods were exported.
This has been bolstered by records for Adelaide Airport air freight and southern rock lobster trade, coupled with surging demand for beef and a strong finish to the year, with exports in December 2025 exceeding the same month in 2024 by more than half-a-billion-dollars.
This record has been achieved despite global trade headwinds, with market volatility caused by the introduction of tariffs and other restrictions creating uncertainty.
To respond to these challenges, the Malinauskas Government has been ready to act quicky and decisively, so that our businesses are best supported to sell SA to the world.
A pipeline of industry-specific export support packages has been established over the past four years to help local companies re-engage with old markets, diversify into those previously untapped, and to navigate the increasingly challenging times.
These packages are headlined by the $1.85 million China Re-Engagement Support Package, the $475,000 Seafood Export Growth Program, and $5 million in new funding delivered in the 2025-26 State Budget to support market diversification for established exporters.
With more than 220,000 jobs in South Australia linked to exports, their importance to our state’s economy cannot be understated.
That is why the Malinauskas Government has delivered the first-of-its-kind Trade and Investment Strategy to 2030, mapping clear targets for the next five years.
South Australia’s top five export markets for 2025 were China ($3.6 billion), the US ($2.8 billion – record), India ($1.5 billion – record), Malaysia ($1.5 billion) and Thailand ($742 million).
Quotes attributable to Joe Szakacs
It’s been a busy four years working hard to support our state’s exporters, and we’re seeing the undeniable results of those efforts.
It’s hardly surprising to South Australians that the world would want our world-class products.
But without getting out, getting into market, and putting our lobster or our wine in front of influential overseas buyers, we could not realise the potential economic reward.
There has not been a more volatile time for global trade in recent memory.
And that is why we’ve acted quickly and decisively to respond to each challenge – be it restrictions on wine, barley and lobster, or tariffs placed on the world by the US – through a range of specific support packages worth millions of dollars.
We are keenly focused on trade because the success of our exports underpins the success of South Australians and their families.
More than 220,000 South Australians are employed in a job related to exports, and we know that these jobs are better paid and more secure.
We’ll continue to get on with this work and build on the strong momentum our state is experiencing.
1 Australian Bureau of Statistics (December 2025), International Trade in Goods
