According to WPB, Australia’s bitumen market matters beyond its own road-building cycle because it draws cargoes from the same Asia-Pacific refining and shipping system that also serves Southeast Asia, New Zealand and parts of the wider Indian Ocean market. For the Middle East, the connection is indirect but commercially relevant: Australian buyers do not rely primarily on Gulf suppliers, yet the seaborne bitumen market is tied to refinery economics, heated tanker availability, freight costs and disruptions along oil-product shipping corridors. In a global HS 271320 petroleum bitumen trade worth about US$13.8 billion in 2024, Australia remained a significant import destination, with WITS/Comtrade listing the country at US$382.1 million and 741,534 tons of petroleum bitumen imports in 2024.
The core story is simple: Australia is structurally import-dependent in bitumen. Domestic refining has limited ability to cover national demand, and the country’s geography requires a distributed terminal network rather than one dominant entry point. Geoscience Australia describes the country as a minor oil producer and notes that Australia imported about 90% of its oil requirements in 2023, while Viva Energy states that its Geelong Refinery is now the only bitumen manufacturer in Australia. This means imported bitumen is not a marginal supplement; it is the operating base for road construction, maintenance, airport pavement work, industrial surfacing and polymer-modified binder production.
The import numbers show a market that softened in 2024 before recovering in 2025. Australian Petroleum Statistics data extracts indicate bitumen imports of around 733.6 ML in calendar 2024, down from around 914.6 ML in 2023; in 2025, imports recovered to about 802.7 ML. In value terms, the same data show import value at about A$468.9 million in 2024, compared with about A$653.5 million in 2023 and A$550.9 million in 2025. The Australian Government says the petroleum statistics publication collects national data on petroleum product imports and exports, and the 2026 page provides the current data extract series used for these calculations.
The decline in 2024 was not only a value story. The tonnage and volume also moved lower. Australia imported about 488,874 tons of bitumen in January-August 2024, compared with 605,283 tons in the same months of 2023, and placed full-year 2023 imports at about 932,286 tons. By comparison, WITS/Comtrade’s calendar-2024 customs view gives 741,534 tons. The two datasets are not identical in method, but they point in the same direction: 2024 was weaker than 2023, while the 2025 data show renewed buying.
By supplier, Australia’s bitumen sourcing is heavily Asia-Pacific. data for 2024 show Singapore as the largest supplier to Australia at US$102.1 million and 235,289 tons, followed by China at US$65.4 million and 80,350 tons, Malaysia at US$50.6 million and 120,156 tons, Thailand at US$39.6 million and 107,461 tons, and South Korea at US$34.8 million and 78,535 tons. In 2023, the leading order was different: China was first at US$146.9 million, Singapore second at US$140.8 million, then Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea. The supplier table therefore shows a clear 2024 reduction in Chinese value and a stronger relative position for Singapore.
The 2025 picture points to renewed concentration around Singapore and a stronger South Korean presence. A market-research dataset for October 2024 to September 2025 placed Australia’s petroleum bitumen imports at US$441.6 million for the last twelve months, up 3.9% year on year, with the latest six-month period showing a 26.8% rise in volume and 31.2% rise in value versus the same period a year earlier. The same report states that South Korea moved from fifth to second by value in the last-twelve-month period, while the United States appeared as a fast-growing, competitively priced supplier, though from a smaller base.
On prices, the answer is that Australia did see a sharp movement in average import cost from 2023 to 2024, but not a sustained upward spike. Using Australian Petroleum Statistics values and volumes, the implied average import value was about A$0.715 per liter in 2023, about A$0.639 per liter in 2024, and about A$0.686 per liter in 2025. That indicates a noticeable fall in 2024, followed by a partial recovery in 2025. WITS customs data for 2024 imply an average customs unit value of roughly US$515 per ton, based on US$382.1 million over 741,534 tons. Supplier-level unit values varied widely, with Thailand and Malaysia lower on a simple value-per-ton basis than China, while Singapore sat near the broad middle. These figures should be read as customs unit values, not delivered asphalt-plant selling prices.
Ports are the second half of the market structure. The main bitumen gateways are tied to population centres, state road programs and heated-storage infrastructure. Viva Energy lists import and blending facilities at Townsville, Birkenhead, Pinkenba, Port Botany and Geelong, while also noting bitumen manufacturing at Geelong. Port Botany is critical for New South Wales: Vopak describes its Sydney Site B as a large independent petroleum import and distribution terminal with access through two berths and capacity for clean petroleum products and bitumen. Queensland is served by Port of Brisbane and Townsville, with SAMI’s Port of Brisbane bitumen import terminal reaching a one-million-ton imported-bitumen milestone and the Townsville terminal adding a hot bitumen facility for North Queensland.
Western Australia relies heavily on Kwinana and the Fremantle-area industrial system. A polymer-modified bitumen and bitumen emulsion production facility is listed in Kwinana Beach, while project documents related to Kwinana indicate increased import and processing capacity within the Fremantle Ports area. Victoria remains cantered on Geelong, Corio and the Melbourne industrial belt. Boral identifies Bitumen Importers Australia as a joint venture that secures supply, purchasing, shipment and storage arrangements for bituminous products in Victoria and New South Wales, with production facilities in Geelong and Sydney. Reports indicated that production at Altona would cease from March 2025 also underlined how access to import-terminal logistics has become decisive in the Australian market.
Exports are small and should not be overstated. Australia’s petroleum bitumen export profile is minor compared with imports. Australia has been recorded among the suppliers to New Zealand in 2024 at US$1.21 million and 951,740 kg, far behind Malaysia, the United States and China. Australia also supplied Papua New Guinea with US$166,510 and 179,505 kg in 2024. Australian Petroleum Statistics data show exports rising from a very low base, at about 1.3 ML in 2024 and 4.9 ML in 2025, with destinations including New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, China, Vietnam, New Caledonia and smaller Pacific markets. This is a regional overflow and specialty-supply business, not a large export industry.
For trade destinations, the import side is therefore far more important than the export side. The main origins are Singapore, China, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan and, at times, the United States and Colombia. The main export destinations are New Zealand and nearby Pacific or Asia-Pacific markets, with occasional small shipments elsewhere. In practical terms, Australia buys bulk seaborne bitumen and distributes it through heated terminals and blending facilities; it does not set the global price, but its demand is large enough to matter in the Asia-Pacific cargo balance.
The outlook is firm but uneven. Road maintenance backlogs, state infrastructure programs, airport pavement works and climate-resilient road specifications support demand. At the same time, rainfall, public funding cycles, shipping availability, refinery turnarounds and exchange-rate movements can move monthly imports sharply. The biggest operational issue is no longer simply access to bitumen; it is access to reliable heated logistics, flexible storage, quality control and multiple Asian supply sources. Australia’s bitumen market in 2025 is therefore best understood as a mature import system with limited domestic production, concentrated port infrastructure, recovering demand and rising attention to supply security.
By WPB
News, Bitumen, Australia, Petroleum Bitumen, Imports, Exports, Port Botany, Geelong, Singapore, South Korea, Road Infrastructure, Asia-Pacific Supply
