Foreign trade figures of Austria

Foreign Trade in Figures

The Austrian economy is heavily dependent on foreign trade, which accounts for 124% of GDP (World Bank, latest data available). Its trade with the countries of the European Union accounts for almost 70% of its total trade (WTO). According to data from Statistics Austria, machinery and vehicles retained their position as the foremost product group in Austrian international trade during 2022, accounting for 30.8% of imports and 35.6% of exports. Imports in this category experienced an 11.2% increase, reaching EUR 65.72 billion, while exports grew by 12.6%, totalling EUR 69.03 billion. Other prominent export product groups included manufactured goods, which surged by 21.4% to EUR 42.90 billion, chemical products with a 15% increase to EUR 29.08 billion, and other manufactured goods rising by 14.2% to EUR 20.27 billion. Notably, these four product groups collectively represented 83.1% of Austrian exports in 2022. Other major import groups were manufactured goods (16.3%) and chemical products (13.8%). Additionally, there was a substantial rise of 86.0% in imports of fuels and energy, amounting to EUR 25.88 billion.

Germany is by far Austria’s privileged partner for both imports and exports. In 2022, Austrian exports to Germany represented 29.9% of the total, while imports accounted for 32.2%. Italy (6.8%), the U.S. (6.7%) and Switzerland (5.1%) were among the main export destinations, whereas for imports China was the second main origin (8.1%), followed by Italy (6.1%) and Switzerland (4.7% - Statistics Austria). The manufacturing industry is well integrated into Germany’s value chain. Austria remains therefore dependent on the economic conjuncture in Germany and in other central and eastern European countries. Overall, the EU accounted for 68.6% of exports and 65% of imports in 2022.

Austria imports more goods than it exports: USD 213.7 billion of goods were imported in 2022 (+19.8% y-o-y) as opposed to USD 194.1 billion of exports (+17.2% y-o-y – Statistics Austria). In the same year, exports of services amounted to USD 81.2 billion while imports stood at USD 73.8 billion. Austria’s external trade balance has invariably been in surplus since 1999: in 2022, the external balance of goods and services stood at 0.5% of GDP (World Bank), down from 0.9% one year earlier. From January to September 2023, preliminary data from Statistics Austria show that the total value of imported goods reached EUR 153.17 billion, while exports of goods amounted to EUR 149.64 billion. Austrian international trade sustained a downward trend in this period, marked by a more pronounced decline in imports than in exports, resulting in a trade surplus: imports experienced a 4.% decrease, whereas exports registered a 3.4% increase. Consequently, the trade balance deficit narrowed to EUR 3.54 billion, a significant improvement compared to the EUR 14.83 billion deficit recorded in the corresponding period the previous year. In the first nine months of last year, Austria experienced a decline in the value of goods imported from European Union member states, totalling EUR 98.19 billion, reflecting a decrease of 6.4%. Conversely, the value of goods exported to EU countries saw a positive trend, with a notable increase of 2.6% compared to the corresponding period in 2022, reaching EUR 102.21 billion. This resulted in a favourable trade balance with the European Union, amounting to EUR 4.02 billion, marking a significant improvement from the deficit of EUR 5.28 billion recorded in the same period of 2022.