Many businesses, including small and medium sized exporters, have already shut down permanently and others are close to doing the same. As the Australian Government considers an economic recovery package, it must seriously take account of trade as a priority area.

Two factors will determine the strength of our recovery—one, how quickly the pandemic is brought under control; two, the policy choices governments make.

Australia faces many challenges. We can encourage enterprises to grow quickly to take advantage of new markets, especially as domestic spending continues to contract, and help them to adapt to a changed world. This means governments must revisit their policy and regulatory approaches, including ensuring these are further simplified and supportive of business objectives.

We need to make businesses more internationally competitive and ensure those taking commercial risks are adequately supported and rewarded. We need to focus on maximising growth, efficiency and productivity and encourage workforce participation.

Australia is not alone. The rest of the world are also suffering. The World Bank estimates that the global economy will shrink by 5.2 per cent this year, resulting in a 3.6 per cent decline in per capita income and millions of people falling back into extreme poverty.

The COVID-19 pandemic is inflicting high and rising human costs worldwide, with over 26,198,095 people infected by the virus and over 865,467 deaths to date, we at the ECA are profoundly saddened by the loss of life that has occurred around the world. This health crisis has quickly evolved to become an economic crisis, with millions of people around the globe losing their jobs and income. In April 2020, concerning projections from both the IMF and the WTO predicted the global economy will contract by 3 per cent and that international trade will fall sharply in 2020. Even with an ‘optimistic’ scenario, WTO economists predict the volume of global merchandise trade will fall by a staggering 13 per cent compared to 2019.

These trade projections come on the backdrop of existing global trade tensions, volatility in commodity prices, and increasing protectionist sentiments. The imposition of restrictions to trade and freedom of movements, as well as other barriers – though necessary to respond to the current health crisis – may become more permanent protectionist measures that will prove disastrous in the longer term.

Let’s talk Australia

Australia is officially in its first recession for almost three decades, with the June quarter GDP numbers showing the economy went backwards by 7 per cent — the worst fall on record, and worse than most economists had predicted.

As a consequence of the biggest downturn since the Great Depression, Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged up to 7.5 per cent in July 2020, from 7.4 pef cent in June, and compared with market consensus of 7.8 per cent. This wasthe highest jobless rate since November 1998. According to Trading Economics, ‘Looking forward, we estimate unemployment rate in Australia to stand at 7.90 per cent in 12 months’ time.‘

Trade, a key sector of the Australian economy – representing 21 per cent of GDP – while having dropped, has kept the economy slightly afloat. And while recent ABS trade numbers are still encouraging, the numbers hide the real pain, especially among SME exporters.

Where we go from here

In Australia, we have seen our Government – both at the Federal and State level – taking early decisive action to protect Australians and the economy. We applaud key trade-focused initiatives like the International Freight Assistance Mechanism, the increased funding in the Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) and the initiative by Export Finance Australia. These are all critical to provide a lifeline to cash strapped businesses – many of them SMEs – to be able to remain afloat through this crisis.

Preliminary consultations with our members and the broader export community indicate that some key challenges our exporters are facing today relate mainly to:

• Freight and logistics – difficulties with availability, cancellation of most air freight routes and increased freight costs that further reduce already thin margins,
• Supply chain issues – with problems with sourcing, challenges managing the just-in-time system, cancellation of contracts and constant delays,
• Export documentation – the need to digitise all certificates and the many export-related documents have posed challenges, translating in goods and cargo being held and creating all sorts of issues across borders, which are hard to solve remotely,
• Trade barriers – which include several anti-dumping investigations by some of our trading partners on Australian exports – mainly Australian agricultural products. Whilst most of these investigations are being made by China, there are other countries also commencing investigations, which include Australia as a party in their claims.

We believe much more can be done, both at macro-Government level and at the firm level. For governments, there are ways to keep supporting our exporters including:

• Keeping trade lanes open and promoting avenues for freer trade,
• Ramping up multilateral collaboration and coordination between countries as the current restrictions ease, and communicate those measures to the trade community,
• Extending Government support in the freight and logistics area, to other exporters beyond perishables, and expand the discussions to include sea freight,
• Exploring the needs of the services export sector (e.g. education and VET) which have less visibility in the overall trade landscape.

For our exporters, some useful insights include:

• Take advantage of the current Government initiatives and seek support from industry bodies and relevant organisations to bring visibility to the issues that currently affect the Australian exporter,
• Start to rethink the geographic diversity of your supply chains and explore alternatives for sourcing, if available,
• Regroup to have a clear strategy to re-enter markets where recovery is on the horizon and where demand will be increasing.

While domestically we are still in a shutdown, some of our key trade partners are re-emerging from this crisis, and our exporters need to be ready to deliver and take advantage of these opportunities, especially as big export markets, such as the US and the EU remain in hibernation.

Economic recovery will require leadership in trade

As the voice of Australian exporters, the Export Council of Australia calls on the Government to lead on trade issues, here and internationally, and take decisive practical action. If economies do not start to open soon, many small and medium- sized businesses, family run/ owned business, SME exporters will shut down permanently.

The Export Council of Australia therefore encourages the Australian Government to develop and implement trade initiatives, including:

• convening key stakeholders to get transport and logistics systems operating at close to previous levels, ensuring routes are open and prices are brought down.
• facilitating the movement of goods across State borders if those goods are part of a global value chain.
• identifying and expediting negotiations of trade and travel bubbles with key economic partners.
• engaging with the finance industry to ensure exporters continue to have secure and affordable access to trade finance.
• enhancing funding assistance to SME exporters to reduce costs associated with exploring new markets and alternative supply chains, including expanding coverage of programmes such as Export Market Development Grants Scheme and SME Export Hubs programme.
• extending the innovative Seasonal Workers Program beyond its current pilot phase.
• increasing international development support to developing country trade partners, so that similar actions can be undertaken on their end. If our trade partners are not growing, we cannot do business with them.

Now more than ever, we all need to work together. We must abandon old excuses that constrain us from moving forward. We need to be flexible, innovative and bold.

The ECA looks forward to working constructively with the Australian Government and other stakeholders to assist our fellow Australians.

This article was first published and written for Shipping Australia’s Spring/Summer 2020 magazine

By DIANNE TIPPING, chair, and TAMARA OYARCE, National Trade Policy and Research manager, Export Council of Australia

Join us as we sit down with Dhiraj Kunwar, Managing Director – Business Banking with RAKBANK, as he talks us through the experiences of businesses, especially SME’s, over the past six months, before addressing future areas of innovation that have assisted businesses in coping with the challenges presented and, most importantly, what the landscape will look like moving forward from a post pandemic financial standpoint.

Useful tools

Resource	Institution	Description
Head to Health	Australian Government	General mental health website with a dedicated COVID-19 mental health support page.
Coronavirus and mental health fact sheets	Australian Psychological Society	Tips and resources on coping with COVID-19 anxiety.
Looking after your mental health during coronavirus	Superfriend	Tips to help you maintain mental wellbeing, and offers a COVID-19 support kit.
Coronavirus mental wellbeing support service	Beyond Blue	Information, advice and strategies to help you manage your wellbeing and mental health during this time.
Coping during the coronavirus outbreak	Beyond Blue	Interactive forum post with information on how to look after your mental health.
Support for those impacted by adverse events	Life in Mind and the National Mental Health Commission	Mental health resources and information to support people impacted by COVID-19
Online peer support for mental health	SANE Australia	Lived experience forums with features on COVID-19.
Coronavirus: Resources for anxiety, stress & wellbeing	Black Dog Institute	Comprehensive advice on managing anxiety and wellbeing and access to online support.
Information, preparation, and maintaining mental and physical wellbeing	MindSpot	A government-funded online service which has information on maintaining mental and physical wellbeing during the     pandemic.
Risk communication	World Health Organisation	WHO has developed Social Stigma Guidelines for safe reporting on COVID-19.
Guided meditations	Insight Timer	A free library of guided meditations.
Grief and Bereavement and COVID-19	Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement	Resources about how bereavement and grief may be affected by this pandemic.

With 16 Sydney to Hobarts already behind him, Psaltis was at the peak of his physical and mental condition as an offshore sailor…Ocean racing was in the blood. The webinar will held on Thursday, 1 October 2020 at 4pm AEDT.Key learnings that this webinar will touch on include:

• Decision making in a crisis
• Performing under pressures outside of your control

Hope you can join us for this insightful and thought-provoking webinar!

Australian goods and services exports fell by 4% to around A$34 billion between June and July. In particular, rural exports declined by 15% and services exports fell by 12%. Total exports declined by around 12% since the beginning of the year (between January and July).

But what you do not pick up from these figures, are the struggles of SME exporters due to COVID-19 and the lockdowns. Further, we have not yet seen the full impact of the declining trade relationship with our major trading partners, (specifically China).

Trade plays a vital role in Australia’s continued economic success, with over one quarter of our economic growth over the past 5 years generated by trade and one in five jobs relating to trade.

If economies do not start to open soon, many small -and medium- sized businesses, family run-owned business, SME exporters will shut down permanently. There are some new to exporting, that made million-dollar investments in December-January, only to see all prospects disappear due to COVID-19. Others have been in business for many years, but still lost all their buyers. They are keeping staff on board with JobKeeper (government assistance), but this is not proving sufficient, and they are unclear about how long they can hold on.

And there are the lucky ones, where demands for their products increased, but had challenges accessing supply inputs and limited shipping options. Also, we have exporters in the services sector, that have been able to deliver their offerings on-line. However, a key problem, for those still able to operate, is getting their goods on ships and planes, and when they do, it is costing them 7-10 times what it would normally cost them.

We welcome the recent announcement by the Federal Government in backing Australian businesses to grow their exports and create jobs through reforms to the Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) scheme, after an independent review of financial assistance for small and medium enterprise exporters. The EMDG scheme is a key Government financial assistance program to help aspiring and current exporters increase their marketing and promotional activities in international markets. Last year alone over 4000 Small and Medium Enterprises accessed the EMDG scheme, employing almost 69,000 Australians and generating exports worth $3.7 billion. Federal Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said better assisting Australian exporters to enter new markets or expand their presence in existing markets would be critical to boosting export activity and supporting Australia’s economic recovery from COVID-19.

However, we urge the government to include more trade-specific initiatives in its forthcoming budget. Please read our recent Media release.

As the voice for Australian exporters the Export Council of Australia recognises the challenges and constraints faced by the government but, now more than ever, they need to lead here and internationally. The government must take immediate action towards a comprehensive and practical trade-led economic recovery.

We look forward to working constructively with the Australian Government and other stakeholders in order to assist our members and fellow Australians through these difficult economic times.

Joining the Australia Awards Alumni and making connections with the Australian Embassy in Nepal through Basanti’s role at the Federation of Woman Entrepreneurs’ Association in Nepal (FWEAN) has also led to the development of an online sales platform to support women entrepreneurs during COVID-19.

Read on for Basanti’s story.

I BELIEVE I CAN

Basanti Pradhan, CEO, Batika Nepal Pvt. Ltd.

I learnt how to make an International Business Plan, to select, study and recognise the target market and and how to approach it. I learnt to recognise and advertise my USP building emotional stories around it. I also learnt about push strategies and media strategies. Pitching and presentation skills, freight and logistics, export documentation and legal considerations.

I have been highly influenced by this short course on business acceleration. I learnt very unique methods that have made an impact on my business model. Give more time to research and marketing than for producing products. These researches would be able to bring on small changes in my business model to give my products Unique Selling Proposition that would make my product competitively advantageous. Spending more in the marketing aspect also put me in advantage of selling more products than I would normally.

I became an Alumni of Australia Awards, which brought a whole new world and connections to my sphere of business.

As I am the Secretary of Federation of Womans Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal (FWEAN) I have had the privilege of being a committee member in different committees of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Nepal. I was able to recommend women entrepreneur friendly policies and legislations in the current fiscal budget of Nepal where almost all the recommended policies were implemented. I was also able to research on all Nepal Business Sectors and recognise 20 businesses as self reliant for further improvement friendly policies from the Government.

During COVID-19 our Federation has and is providing a lot of trainings and mentoring session to our 5,000 plus members via virtual meetings. The trainings included mental health, good governance and best practices, safety protocol in business during COVID-19 and online business. We have also had virtual workshops to identify constraints faced by women entrepreneurs to lobby and advocate to the government.

The best thing is that the Australian Embassy has granted us funds, due to His Excellency Mr. Peter Budd’s generosity, to relaunch FWEAN’s online portal WINBIZ which will serve as an online platform for women entrepreneurs to showcase and sell their products, as marketing through shops seem a little impossible during these trying times. We are also planning on a virtual one day plenary session to disseminate the knowledge we gained from the WTG short course to at least a 100 women entrepreneurs all over Nepal, who again will be able to reach out to 5,000 plus women entrepreneurs.

I got new export orders from Taiwan but that has been postponed due to COVID-19. I was also going to visit Australia again on 10 April 2020, which also got cancelled due to COVID-19.

COVID- 19  has made me take a U-turn in my business. WTG Short course has enabled and enhanced my outlook on business and my capacities as an entrepreneur. Nepalese have started to turn their homes green and floriculture is flourishing locally. Business abroad has been impacted disastrously on exports as they have been very badly affected financially. This may take many years to become stable again post COVID- 19.

I opened a new company that would “go local”, Batika Nepal Pvt. Ltd. And have formulated new business ideas and creations with great USPs and Value Proposition through what I have learnt during my WTG short course. I plan to make more women entrepreneurs along my value chain who can produce various floriculture products for me. There are more than 5,000 plus women in our network who want to be engaged and empowered. The geological differences of their homes will allow me to tap into various floriculture products that I alone would not be able to produce in my farm.

This way I will be able to impact on 3 levels:

• Micro – engage and empower women
• Meso – create a sustainable value chain in floriculture exemplary to other floriculture businesses
• Macro – almost all floriculture businesses are importing and selling thus acting as a trader, but my business will be able to showcase a Go Local and Export Industry

I was very impressed by the networking sessions, field visits and panel discussions. I have become a more capable business leader after WTG short course.

I am making a story that will be remembered along generations to come.
I BELIEVE I CAN.

With closures of stores across the world including Australia they were receiving cancelled orders daily, and they were left  with undelivered stock lying in all countries.

The company made the effort to contact its stores in all countries and reassured them that they would support them through this crisis. This no pressure reassuring approach, whilst risking their business, strengthened mutual relationships with Orientique’s customers across the globe.

They held stock at discounted prices and extended payment terms for all customers until stores reopened. Also, they closed the headquarters in mid March reopening first week May. All staff were paid through closure.

Not surprisingly Orientique’s customers supported them when they reopened and needed to replenish their stocks.

Whilst company’s sales from mid – March and April were zero and their write offs exceeded 200k, they were able to clear the season and strengthen the relationships with customers everywhere!

Although the market is cautious about what lies ahead, Orientique sees upcoming seasons as an opportunity to be able to service their customers in a period where others have chosen to be careful and will therefore not have stock available.

At Orientique, they are very excited to see a new Summer season launching into Europe, UK and the US. Orientique’s prints and colour offer an opportunity for a fresh COVID-19 start for all!

COVID-19 has impacted everyone across the globe in a commercial and personal way. Their greatest learning through all of this crisis is the strength of relationships at a time when we all must work together.

Relationships matter!

Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator for South Australia said in his welcome remarks, when launching the program last week, “this course has been developed to assist Australian vegetable growers who wish to either become export-ready or enhance their export capabilities to further build on their current international presence.”Course Content

The Export Fundamentals for Australian Vegetable Growers training program contains the following 11 e-learning modules:

• Module 1: Why Export
• Module 2: Vegetable Export Overview
• Module 3: Export Readiness
• Module 4: Market Access & Market Research
• Module 5: Vegetable Industry Market Access
• Module 6: International Market Entry
• Module 7: International Marketing & Meeting Customers
• Module 8: Export Documentation
• Module 9: Freight & Logistics
• Module 10: Finance & Pricing
• Module 11: Pathway to Exporting Vegetables

Access to this training course for national vegetable levy paying growers is funded by Hort Innovation using the Vegetable Research and Development Levy and contributions from the Australian Government. For further information, contact the AUSVEG Export Department at export@ausveg.com.au.

Pax is a secure, cloud-based app, accessible from a website optimised for desktops. It will work with any modern browser, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge (but not Internet Explorer).

Benefits of Pax

Pax has been developed to deliver a more modern, user-friendly experience, providing you with a simpler communications interface and better visibility of the progress of your sanctions matters. Pax will make it easier for regulated entities, such as individuals, businesses, government agencies, and other organisations, to engage with the ASO on sanctions matters in a consistent and efficient way.

Benefits include:

• Easy account creation for individuals or organisations
• All regulatory issues, including sanctions queries, requests for Indicative Assessments, and Applications for sanctions permits will dealt with on the same platform
• It will be easier for users to track progress and seek updates, and
• Users can view their current and previous engagement with the ASO, at any time.

What does this mean for me?

• OSAS will no longer be available and, from 1 October 2020, all sanctions queries and matters will need to be lodged through Pax.
• The OSAS log-in page and all links to OSAS on the DFAT website will be removed. Any OSAS matters submitted after this date will not be accepted.
• The Sanctions Inbox (sanctions@dfat.gov.au) will no longer be used for sanctions queries – submit queries via the Contact Us section on Pax (with or without registering through the Pax homepage).
• Should you have any outstanding sanctions queries in the Sanctions Inbox, these will be actioned and you will receive a response in due course.
• If practical for your business, we encourage you to avoid submitting new sanctions matters into OSAS until Pax is live.

What if I have current or ongoing matter/s in OSAS when Pax is launched?

• Existing OSAS matters will be finalised in OSAS – there will be no transfer of matters from OSAS to Pax.
• OSAS users will be emailed on the day Pax is launched with instructions on how to continue accessing OSAS until your matter is finalised.
• Should you want to keep a copy of your previous OSAS matters for your records, we recommend you download copies of your matters prior to the launch of Pax.

What happens next?

When Pax is live, we will email you further details and update the ASO page on the DFAT website. We have developed training materials which will be available for you to access directly from the Pax homepage:

• Quick Reference Guides
• A comprehensive Applicant User Guide

Where can I get more information?

Refer to the Easy Pax Map attached for a simple overview. If you have any questions about Pax prior to its launch on 1 October 2020, you can email us at sanctions@dfat.gov.au.