Lately the value of our Aussie dollar has dropped to its lowest level in years. Sounds like bad news, right? Well, it turns out having a weak currency can actually be a good thing for some Aussies.

Steel, sheep, wheat and gold. What do these things have in common? Not a lot, right? Well there is one thing, they're all produced in huge amounts here in Australia. You might not realise it, but heaps of stuff is made in Australia and sold overseas. In fact, at the moment, the whole export industry is worth around 373 billion dollars - which would buy a whole lot of wheat and sheep. And experts reckon things are only getting better for a really odd reason.

It's got something to do with the falling Aussie dollar. It basically means that Australian money isn't worth as much right now as money from many other countries.

That sounds like a really bad thing but for Aussie manufacturers and others that sell stuff abroad, it's great.

People love a good deal and because our dollar is now worth about 70 US cents, it only costs 70 cents to buy 1-dollar worth of our stuff. So, people can get a lot more for their money if they buy our products over products from many other countries.

Take Ty Hermans for example. He runs a manufacturing company in New South Wales and he says a drop in the Aussie dollar's value has led to his company pulling in more customers from overseas.

TY HERMANS, MANUFACTURER: Some of these guys are customers who took their work overseas 15-20 years ago, even 3-4 years ago and they're already looking to bring stuff back here to be manufactured locally.

It's not just Ty's business either. Experts say heaps of different industries are booming at the moment: food, medicine, make up, vitamins and even toiletries. That's a lot of success. So, everyone's happy, right? Well not quite.

Ty's an exporter which means he sells stuff to people overseas. And while he's happy, importers aren't so chuffed. They're the ones who buy things from other countries and bring them here. About 20 billion dollars’ worth of raw materials and goods are imported here every month and when our dollar is low, it costs importers more to bring that stuff here. Think things like computers, phones and cars.

But it doesn't just affect industry. It's the same story if your parents like shopping on overseas websites. And if you're heading over to the US for a holiday with some sightseeing or swimming, you're going to need more money for that too.

So while exporters like Ty are happy, things aren't as great for importers and travellers right now. But stuff like this changes pretty often and no matter which way the value of our money goes, you'll find that there's always a winner and a loser.


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