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Materials handling manufacturers account for billions of dollars in annual exports. End users spend equally large amounts of import dollars.

New data from the International Monetary Fund, contained in an ABN-AMRO Morgans report, shows the "sources and uses of global capital" - where our dollars come and go.

The data shows that the USA, in the 2003 calendar year, imported (borrowed) 71.5 per cent of the world's capital, followed distantly by the UK (4.5 per cent) and Australia (4.1 per cent).

It is perhaps surprising that only three countries - America, Britain and Australia - import 80.1 per cent of world capital. The question is, where is all this money coming from?

The biggest exporter of world capital may surprise no-one. Japan exported (lent) 21.0 per cent of world capital in calendar 2003. The next best at saving are the Germans who come way down with 8.2 per cent. China comes third with 7.1 per cent.

Russia, which in 1998 caused international turmoil by rescheduling sovereign debt, surprisingly was the fourth largest capital exporter in 2003, with 5.5 per cent.