Export finance: funding production, shipping and the wait for overseas buyers

An overseas order can be the best news a business gets all year and the hardest to pay for. Exporters wait for their money twice. First while they buy materials, run production and book freight. Then again, often for longer, while the goods cross the ocean and an overseas buyer works through its own payment process. Export finance is the set of tools built for those two waits.

Pre-shipment or post-shipment: which gap are you funding?

Splitting the problem in two makes it much easier to choose the right product.

	Pre-shipment	Post-shipment
What it pays for	Raw materials, wages, packaging, inland transport, freight	The gap between shipping and the buyer paying
Typical security	Confirmed order or contract, general security, director guarantees	The overseas invoice or the bank’s payment undertaking
Common products	Export working capital loans, purchase order funding, Export Finance Australia loans	Export invoice finance, discounting under a letter of credit, credit-insured debtor finance
Main risk to the lender	You don’t complete the order	The buyer or its country doesn’t pay

Many exporters need both. A food manufacturer producing for a large overseas retailer might draw pre-shipment funding to buy ingredients and packaging, then switch to post-shipment funding once the container sails and the invoice is issued on 60-day terms.

Estimate the total length of your own cycle with the cash flow gap calculator.

What does Export Finance Australia offer?

Export Finance Australia is the Commonwealth’s own export credit agency. You can read more on our Export Finance Australia profile. As at October 2026 its website lists:

• Small Business Export Loan: $20k to $350k, for fulfilling export contracts or purchase orders, pre-shipment working capital, developing export markets or investing in platforms to reach overseas customers. It lists an ACN, at least two years of trading, turnover of at least $250k, a company or trust structure and being a direct exporter or within an export supply chain as the criteria, with case-by-case assessment for businesses that don’t meet every one. It says no property or inventory security is required, and that businesses with overdue tax may still qualify if they have an ATO-approved payment plan.
• Bonds: advance payment, performance, warranty and bid bonds, plus US surety bonds through a partner. Its Small Business Starter Bond runs from $20k to $500k for single contracts. It says it typically needs less cash or collateral than a bank would, which leaves more working capital in the business.
• Guarantees: for facilities from $350k, it guarantees part of a loan from your own bank. One of the listed criteria is that you can’t secure the full amount from your bank without that extra support.

Worth knowing: its website says a credit check for the Small Business Export Loan happens only once you give permission, not at the first submission.

How your payment terms shape your finance

The way your buyer pays decides what a lender can fund after shipping.

• Cash in advance: the safest for you and rarely needs finance, but few large buyers accept it.
• Letter of credit: payment is promised by the buyer’s bank, provided your shipping documents match the credit’s terms exactly. A bank undertaking is strong security, so lenders will often advance against it. The catch is the documents: a misspelt name or a late shipping date can delay payment.
• Documentary collection: banks swap documents for payment or a signed promise, but neither bank guarantees payment. Lenders treat this as weaker.
• Open account: the goods leave first and the buyer pays later, often 30 to 90 days after invoice. It’s what large buyers usually want and carries the most risk for you. Lenders typically want trade credit insurance before funding these invoices.

The insight worth acting on: before agreeing terms with a new overseas buyer, ask a lender how it would treat that buyer’s invoices. Agreeing to 90-day open account terms with a buyer in a market your financier won’t fund can leave you carrying the whole receivable yourself.

What do export financiers look at?

What they check	Why
The contract or purchase order	Confirms the sale is real and sets out delivery and payment terms
Your record of delivering	Proof you can make and ship to specification on time
The buyer and its country	Credit quality of the buyer and any country or currency risk
Margins after freight, duty and currency	Whether the order still makes money if costs move
Insurance	Cargo and, often, trade credit insurance
Your financials and tax position	Standard credit assessment, including ATO debt and arrangements

Banks provide a large share of export finance, including letters of credit and foreign currency accounts, and if your bank is willing to support the contract it’s usually a competitive option. Specialist trade financiers profiled in our directory, including Octet and Fifo Capital, also offer trade and invoice products that some exporters use.

Just landed an overseas contract? Tell us what you need to fund; the form is quick and no credit enquiry is lodged when you send it.

What does export finance cost?

We don’t publish rates. Costs vary with the product, the buyer, the country and the term, and commonly include application or establishment fees, charges on funds drawn, bank fees for letters of credit and bonds, credit insurance premiums and currency conversion margins. Export Finance Australia publishes its own fees on its product pages.

Compare total dollar cost for the specific order, not the headline price, and include currency. If a contract is priced in a foreign currency, a currency movement between signing and payment can wipe out more margin than the finance itself. Some exporters lock in a rate with forward cover when the contract is signed.

Grants and support to know about

The Export Market Development Grants program, run by Austrade, reimburses eligible small and medium exporters for part of their export marketing spend, across tiers for businesses ready to export, those expanding in existing markets and those entering new key markets. As at October 2026, Austrade’s website says no rounds are open and the timing of the next round will be announced. A grant can’t replace working capital, because it reimburses spending after the fact. Our comparison of government grants vs business loans explains how the two fit together.

Alternatives and related options

• Trade finance if you also import materials or components.
• Debtor finance for domestic invoices, which can free up cash elsewhere in the business while export orders are in transit.
• A working capital loan for smaller or one-off orders.
• Funding for expanding into new markets for the marketing, travel and set-up costs before orders arrive.

For background, read our guide to export finance basics, see how lenders view importers and exporters, or our page on what to do when you’ve won a big contract and need to fund it.

Ship the order without starving the business

Export growth shouldn’t mean draining the account that pays your staff and local suppliers. The trick is matching each part of the cycle, before and after shipping, to funding that suits the buyer, the market and your margin.

That matching is something we can help with. Spend roughly sixty seconds on our form; sending it doesn’t put an enquiry on your credit file. We keep your contract details in-house instead of circulating them to a string of lenders, and a member of our team reviews the order before ringing you to talk it over. Be precise about the contract value, where the buyer is based and how they’ll pay, so our first suggestion is one that holds up.

Fund your export order →