Australia recorded a bigger than expected trade deficit in March, largely due to sagging prices for iron ore and coal exports.
In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance on goods and services was a deficit of $1.32 billion in March, following a revised deficit in February of $1.61 billion.
The deficit was larger than the $1.0 billion economists had predicted for March.
Exports fell two per cent, while imports were also down two per cent, according to official data out Tuesday.
CBA senior economist John Peters said falling commodity prices were behind the wider than forecast deficit.
"While export volumes of coal and iron ore continue to increase, their price continued to fall over March and that was a key driver of the bigger deficit," Mr Peters told AAP.
"We've seen in 12 months falling commodity prices being a drag on the trade balance, not quite offset by the increase in volumes."
He said while there were no surprises in the trade data, the larger deficit could put a dent in net export component of first quarter gross domestic product data.
JP Morgan economist Tom Kennedy also pointed to weaker coal and iron ore prices for the larger-than-tipped deficit, but cautioned that the data was volatile.
"Around January, February and March of each year due to the shifting timing of Chinese New Year, obviously we get some trade distortions and trade disruptions that aren't fully captured in the seasonally adjusted process," Mr Kennedy said.
He said he was surprised imports of goods and services fell $702 million for the month.
"The surprise for us, and I suspect for the market too, is on the import side," he said.
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