As an Australian manufaturer myself, it makes sense to diversify when sourcing materials.
We carry large amounts of stock, so when the dollars high we tend to buy big overseas (China and the U.S), and whenever possible (when not at a massive financial disadvantage), buy locally,
There is an inhibiting culture in Australian business which supports out of date and drawn out supply chains, that thanks to technology are just unnecessary these days.
We had a major Australian manufacturer tell us a few years back that they'd only consider selling directly to us once were looking at about $600,000 a year worth of goods from them.
With the U.S companies ( who are incidentally bigger) willing to start trading relationships based on orders of a few thousand dollars, it doesn't give companies an incentive to buy locally.
Middlemen here tend to make crazy margins too, an example is that we've just saved $300,000 (75%!!) on packaging over the next few years by buying everything from China in one shebang.
It seems crazy to pay huge premiums on goods when they're made in China anyway, simply for convenience.
