Loss of car trade dents Sydney's trade figures

A decline in crude oil imports also contributed to the decline in total trade to 25.8m mass tonnes, Sydney Ports Corporation said.

Container trade increased 2% on the same period last year to 1.66m teu.

Imports of containerised commodities in the year to May rose 0.3% to 814,513 teu led by machinery and transport equipment, miscellaneous manufacturers, chemicals and paper products.

The trend was more pronounced in containerised commodity exports, which surged 15.7% to 407,079 teu, also driven by chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, miscellaneous manufacturers, cereals and paper products.

The leading import regions were East Asia, Europe and South East Asia, which made up a combined 76% of total full container imports through the port.

Non-containerised imports year to May fell 9% to 11.7m tonnes due to lower crude oil imports.

Non-containerised exports fell 41.6% to 640,000 tonnes as refined oil exports declined.