Australia ran a record trade surplus in the 12 months to June on the back of surging exports to China, British media said. China accounts for almost half of Australia's total exports.

Australian exports to China hit a record A $14.6 billion in June, the financial Times reported on Monday. This has been helped by the reopening of Australia's economy and China's aggressive stimulus programme. The measures have prompted a surge in Chinese demand for Australian commodities such as iron ore and coal. Australia's exports to China accounted for 48.8 per cent of all goods exports in June, up from about a third in February and equivalent to 8.5 per cent of gross domestic product.

Trade with China is supporting the Australian economy, which has been hit by a renewed rise in coVID-19 cases in Melbourne, the report said. A majority of businesses in Australia's second-largest city closed for the second time in four months and imposed a nighttime curfew in an effort to rein in the Novel Coronavirus.

The Reserve Bank of Australia warned Thursday that the outbreak could push unemployment to 10 percent this year. The RBA also said it would resume its bond-buying program this week, noting that the yield on three-year government bonds had edged above its target range of 0.25 per cent.

In June, China's imports rose for the first time since the outbreak, up 2.7 percent in dollar terms from a year earlier, the report said.

Increased industrial activity in China supported demand for Australian iron ore, an important steelmaking ingredient, with imports hitting a record high in June, the report said. Imports of commodities from India, Ukraine and Russia also hit new highs, according to Platts. Iron ore prices have surged above $100 a tonne on strong demand and supply disruptions in Brazil due to the outbreak.

Simon Birmingham, Australia's trade minister, says the record trade surplus highlights the resilience of the export sector in the face of global economic shocks.

Trade between Australia and China reached A $235 billion in the 12 months to the end of June 2019, the report said.