Free trade website covers nine new markets

A website designed for Australian exporters looking to take advantage of free trade agreements is being expanded to cover nine new international markets.

The site, which helps exporters determine their eligibility and decide which deals offer the best access to particular markets, already covers China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and New Zealand.

It will now cover Australian FTAs with Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, with the United States and Chile to be added later this year.

Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said the nine markets being included on the portal this weekend represented almost $75 billion in two-way trade for Australia in 2015-16.

The site (ftaportal.dfat.gov.au) has attracted about 60,000 users since its March 2016 launch and is being visited about 2000 times a week, he said.