Australian business are well positioned to benefit from the surge in cross-border trade, with demand for Aussie made products expected to triple by 2018, according to new research by PayPal.

According to PayPal’s White Paper on cross-border trade for SMBs, six core markets – Australia, US, UK, Germany, Brazil, and China – are collectively expected to triple online cross border purchases to $307-billion by 2018.

The impact on small and medium businesses will be equally impressive, with Australian online sales to foreign buyers forecast to grow threefold to $16.1-billion by 2018.

“Real and virtual barriers to trade are rapidly disappearing, helped by the growing use of the internet for commerce and enabling payment platforms,” Emma Hunt, director small business, PayPal Australia, said.

“These factors, combined with resource rich economies entering the global online marketplace and Australia’s reputation for producing quality goods and service, have all created unprecedented opportunity for our small businesses to expand into new markets, find new customers, and diversify their income streams.”