Xifres de comerç exterior d'Àustria

Foreign Trade in Figures

The Austrian economy is heavily dependent on foreign trade, which accounts for 111% 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). Accounting for 33.1% of imports and 37% of exports, machinery and vehicles were the most important product group in Austrian foreign trade in 2021. Other significant exports were manufactured goods (21.3%), chemical products (15.3%) and other manufactured goods (10.7%); overall, 84.4 % of Austrian exports were concentrated in these four product groups in 2021. The main import groups were manufactured goods (16.3%), chemical products (14.7%), and other manufactured goods (13.8% - Statistics Austria).

Germany is, by far, Austria’s privileged partner for both imports and exports. In 2021, Austrian exports to Germany represented 30.1% of total exports, while imports represented 33.1%. Italy (6.8%), the U.S. (6.7%) and Switzerland (4.9%) were among the main export destinations, whereas for imports China was the second main origin (6.3%), followed by Italy (5.5%) and Switzerland (5.5% - 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.

Austria imports more goods than it exports: USD 219.5 billion of goods were imported in 2021 (+27.4% y-o-y) as opposed to USD 202.8 billion of exports (+20.3% y-o-y - WTO latest data available). In 2021, exports of services amounted to USD 70.2 billion while imports stood at USD 67 billion. Austria’s current account has invariably been in surplus since 1999: in 2021, the external balance of goods and services stood at 0.6% of GDP (World Bank), down from 3% one year earlier. According to preliminary results from Statistics Austria, the total value of imports of goods in the period January to September 2022 stood at EUR 158.1 billion, whereas exports amounted to EUR 144.3 billion, marking an increase of 21.4% and 18.7%, respectively.