How much forced labour exposure do Australian importers have in their supply chains?

Since the start of 2023, 631 Australian companies conducted 50,805 imports containing exposure to entities flagged under the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), according to Altana's analysis. The vast majority of this exposure sits at Tier 2 or further upstream in product value chains. Altana reviewed 12.3 million transactions across 2023, 2024, and part of 2025.

Why can't Australian companies see most of their forced labour exposure?

A full 99.5% of forced labour exposure in Australian value chains occurs at Tier 2 or further upstream, where companies typically have no visibility. Less than 1% of affected imports have the exposure at Tier 1, the direct supplier. Without visibility into deeper tiers, Australian businesses and the government cannot visualize, quantify, or fix the problem.

Which industries have the most forced labour exposure in Australia?

Apparel and textiles make up the largest share of Australia's sub-tier forced labour exposure at 26.3% of affected trade flow, driven by Xinjiang's status as a major cotton producer. Other heavily affected industries include electronics (20.5%), plastics (13.6%), automotive parts (12.5%), and iron and steel articles (9.0%).

How does forced labour exposure reach Australia from deep in the supply chain?

Exposure often enters through suppliers several tiers removed from the Australian buyer. In one example, an Australian company sourced a component domestically, but that supplier relied on a Vietnamese supplier, which in turn was supplied by a Tier 3 Chinese entity flagged for modern slavery violations. This pattern repeats across Australian value chains, creating broad, systemic exposure that hides upstream.

How can Altana help governments and companies combat forced labour?

Altana's Product Network gives Australian enterprises and government agencies product-level visibility, traceability, and collaboration across every tier of the value chain. Companies can identify hidden forced labour risks and remediate them by collecting supplier documentation or finding alternate suppliers. Governments can run faster investigations, measure both economy-wide and company-specific exposure, and share insights across agencies and allies.

Altana Reveals Vast, Sub-Tier Forced Labour Exposure for Australian Importers

Key takeaways

Altana's analysis of Australia-bound trade reveals widespread, hidden forced labour exposure in the value chains of Australian companies. Nearly all of it sits deep upstream, where most importers cannot see and remediate challenges.

Altana's analysis found that since the start of 2023, 631 Australian companies conducted 50,805 imports containing exposure to entities flagged under the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).
A full 99.5% of forced labour exposure in Australian value chains occurs at Tier 2 or further upstream, with 74.5% sitting at Tier 3 or beyond — beyond the reach of standard supplier checks.
Apparel and textiles account for the largest share of Australia's sub-tier forced labour exposure at 26.3% of affected trade flow, tied to Xinjiang's role as a major cotton producer.
Altana's Product Network gives Australian enterprises and government agencies multi-tier visibility to identify, quantify, and remediate forced labour exposure from raw materials to finished goods.

An analysis from Altana’s Product Network – built on the world’s most comprehensive body of supply chain data – reveals significant forced labour exposure in the product value chains of Australian companies.

Since the beginning of 2023, 631 Australian companies have conducted 50,805 imports containing exposure to entities flagged by the U.S.’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), the analysis found. The vast majority of the potential exposure is present in Tier 2 and further upstream in product value chains, or the network of materials, components, and human inputs from the soil to the store shelves that make up a good.

Build Resilient, Forced Labour-Free Value Chains With Altana

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The revelation of significant forced labour exposure present in Australian supply chains comes at a critical moment for combatting modern slavery in Australia. The first-ever Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner was appointed in November 2024, and the Labor government has pledged to strengthen the country’s Modern Slavery Act.

"Australia needs to be prepared for an evidence-based discussion on the right mechanisms to ensure Australian businesses consistently identify, address and remediate modern slavery risks. I will consider if companies should be required to report on the presence of high risk products or suppliers in their supply chains…"

Chris Evans, Inaugural Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner, April 2025

See the sub-tier, cross-industry nature of Australian forced labour exposure, and learn how the visibility, traceability, and collaboration afforded by Altana’s Product Network makes it possible for governments and private enterprises to enforce and comply with modern slavery regulations.

99.5% of Potential Australian Forced Labour Exposure is Present at Tier 2 or Further Upstream

Without sub-tier visibility into product-level value chains, the Australian government and private enterprises will have limited awareness of forced labour exposure, the Altana analysis reveals.

A full 99.5% of the transactions with forced labour exposure occur in Tier 2 or further upstream in supply chains. Less than 1% of the Australian imports with exposure to entities flagged by the UFLPA have the exposure present in Tier 1 in the value chain; 74.5% of forced labour exposure in Australian supply chains is at Tier 3 or beyond.

australian forced labour exposure lurking in sub-tier value chains

Within Altana’s Product Network, there are numerous examples of how upstream forced labour exposure flows into Australia. Even in a case when a major Australian enterprise sources a product component from Australia, that Australian has a supplier from Vietnam that is supplied by a Tier 3 entity from China. This Chinese Tier 3 supplier has been flagged for modern slavery violations.

sub-tier exposure example, Australian enterprise

This story plays out again and again across the Australian supply chain, resulting in broad, systemic, sub-tier forced labour exposure that the Australian government and private enterprises cannot visualize, quantify, or fix.

Australian Companies’ Exposure to Forced Labour Spans Products, Industries

In Australia, exposure to forced labour spans product types and industries.

A multi-tier analysis of Australia-bound trade flow reveals that since 2023, the industry that makes up a plurality of sub-tier exposure to entities flagged under UFLPA has been apparel and textiles (26.3% of affected trade flow). This elevated trade volume is tied to Xinjiang’s status as a cotton powerhouse.

Other industries are also significantly affected, with electronics (20.5% of affected trade flow), plastics (13.6% of affected trade flow), automotive parts (12.5% of affected trade flow), and iron and steel articles (9.0% of affected trade flow) all exposed to a large amount of sub-tier forced labour exposure.

australian imports exposed to forced labour by product type

Expose and Combat Forced Labour Exposure With Altana’s Product Network

Altana empowers businesses to discover and qualify suppliers with unmatched, product-level value chain visibility, traceability, and collaboration, and for governments to enforce trade regulations and protect economic security. With Altana’s Product Network, enterprises in Australia can:

Identify hidden forced labour risks with visibility, traceability, and fully-illuminated upstream value chains.
Remediate forced labour risks by collaborating with upstream suppliers to collect documentation – or by identifying alternate suppliers.

For governments, Altana’s Product Network makes it possible to:

Identify both aggregate, economy-wide and individual, enterprise-specific forced labour exposure through access to a unified, continuously updating network.
Conduct faster, more efficient forced labour and modern slavery investigations by searching and analyzing multi-tier trade flows in minutes.
Perform proactive collaboration and coordinated action by sharing forced labour insights across agencies, allies, and industry to prevent trade disruptions, promote compliance, and inform policy.

Learn more about why Western governments, leading logistics providers, and major enterprises have joined Altana’s Product Network.

About the Analysis

Altana analyzed 12.3 million transactions of 631 Australian companies with connections to entities flagged by the UFLPA in their product value chains. The multi-tier analysis covered 2023, 2024, and part of 2025.

FAQs

Since the start of 2023, 631 Australian companies conducted 50,805 imports containing exposure to entities flagged under the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), according to Altana's analysis. The vast majority of this exposure sits at Tier 2 or further upstream in product value chains. Altana reviewed 12.3 million transactions across 2023, 2024, and part of 2025.
A full 99.5% of forced labour exposure in Australian value chains occurs at Tier 2 or further upstream, where companies typically have no visibility. Less than 1% of affected imports have the exposure at Tier 1, the direct supplier. Without visibility into deeper tiers, Australian businesses and the government cannot visualize, quantify, or fix the problem.
Apparel and textiles make up the largest share of Australia's sub-tier forced labour exposure at 26.3% of affected trade flow, driven by Xinjiang's status as a major cotton producer. Other heavily affected industries include electronics (20.5%), plastics (13.6%), automotive parts (12.5%), and iron and steel articles (9.0%).

Exposure often enters through suppliers several tiers removed from the Australian buyer. In one example, an Australian company sourced a component domestically, but that supplier relied on a Vietnamese supplier, which in turn was supplied by a Tier 3 Chinese entity flagged for modern slavery violations. This pattern repeats across Australian value chains, creating broad, systemic exposure that hides upstream.
Altana's Product Network gives Australian enterprises and government agencies product-level visibility, traceability, and collaboration across every tier of the value chain. Companies can identify hidden forced labour risks and remediate them by collecting supplier documentation or finding alternate suppliers. Governments can run faster investigations, measure both economy-wide and company-specific exposure, and share insights across agencies and allies.