Australia posted a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus of A$8.733 billion in July, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
That was well shy of expectations for a surplus of A$14.5 billion and down sharply from the downwardly revised A$17.13 billion surplus in June (originally A$17.67 billion).
Exports were down 9.9 percent on month after rising 5.0 percent in the previous month, while imports jumped 5.0 percent on month after gaining just 1.0 percent a month earlier.
