FX.co ★ Australian Inventories Weakest in 3 Quarters

Australia experienced a modest increase in business inventories with a 0.1% rise quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2025. This represents a significant deceleration from the revised 1.2% growth achieved in the previous quarter. It is the smallest growth observed since the contraction experienced in the third quarter of 2024. The slowdown predominantly reflects a reduction in inventory growth among manufacturers, down to 0.2% from 1.7% in the first quarter, and miners, which saw a slight decrease to 4.8% from 5.0%. Additionally, inventories fell for wholesalers, dropping by 1.7% compared to a previous increase of 0.2%, and continued to decline for retailers, down by 0.5% from a 0.3% fall. Conversely, inventory levels rose for electricity providers, jumping to 6.9% from 4.8%, and there was a recovery in the accommodation and food services sector from a decline of 0.5% to an increase of 0.6%. On an annual scale, business inventories saw an overall increase of 0.8% compared to the second quarter of the previous year.