November 5 — Australia's trade surplus is on track to fall to a ten-year low this year. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that imports rose by more than 13% to A$45.2 billion in September, second only to the all-time record set in August; exports rose by 10% to nearly A$48 billion, leaving a surplus of A$2.8 billion for the month. The surplus for the first nine months of the year stood at just over A$17 billion, the lowest for the same period in a decade. The narrowing of the surplus was driven mainly by a surge in imports from China of chips and servers needed for data centers, rising energy costs, and strong domestic demand for Chinese goods such as automobiles as well as for chips imported from South Korea and Taiwan, China. Although commodity exports remain strong, fuel import costs hit a record high, and shrinking net exports dragged down GDP growth.