After battling with GFC and a record-high dollar, Australia’s exporters are now facing a new threat in the face of carbon tax.

A survey conducted by the Australian Institute of Export last week among 800 members, shows over 70 per cent of respondents said that they were concerned about the potential implications of an enforced carbon tax.

The survey conducted among largely small to medium size exporters in all market sectors found that 85 per cent maintained that the strength of the Aussie dollar was having a negative impact on export sales. Of those who reported a likely impact on sales, 42 per cent said that this would be between 10 per cent and 30 per cent while 27 per cent maintained that a sales decline of in excess of 30 per cent was likely.

Mr Murray, Executive Director of the Institute said that while the sales decline figures are cause for concern, the greatest impact was on margins and that will mean a loss of jobs, 65 per cent of respondents had said that job losses were likely and of those 57 per cent said up to 10 jobs could be lost.

The research revealed that the two key markets in which exporters are feeling the impact are, not surprisingly, North America and Europe.

Mr Murray added that “these two markets, due to low currency rates are also gaining business in the Australian domestic market putting additional pressure on our exporters.”

“While little can be done about the dollar, it was imperative that the Government takes the concerns of exporters into consideration on the issue of the carbon tax and that every avenue is explored to build confidence back into a sector savaged by currency, high interest rates and low price completion.”

Mr Murray said “If the carbon tax bites, it will be the end for many Australian companies exporting and of those who remain, many will go off shore where conditions are clearly better and the cost of doing business significantly cheaper.”