That dollar amount results from a 31.9% advance from $162.1 billion five years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, the total value of Austrian exports fell by -1.1% compared to $216.2 billion for 2023.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, Austria uses the euro which flatlined via a 0.02% gain against the US dollar from 2023 to 2024. The slightly stronger European Union currency made Austria’s exports paid for in weaker US dollars modestly more expensive for international buyers.
Austria’s Main Partners for Buying Austrian Exports
The latest available country-specific data shows that 74% of products exported from Austria was bought by importers in: Germany (29.2% of the Austrian total), United States of America (8.2%), Italy (6%), Switzerland (5%), Slovakia (3.94%), Poland (3.89%), France (3.6%), Hungary (3.5%), Czech Republic (3.4%), mainland China (2.7%), United Kingdom (2.5%) and Slovenia (2.1%).
From a continental perspective, 78.1% of Austria’s exports by value was delivered to fellow European countries while 9.9% was sold to importers in North America. Austria shipped another 9.3% worth of goods to buyers in Asia.
A member of the European Union in good standing,
Smaller percentages went to customers in Africa (1.1%), Latin America (1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.6%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Given Austria’s population of 9.13 million people, its total $213.9 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $23,400 for every resident in the Central European nation. That dollar metric lags the average $24,700 per capita one year earlier during 2023.
Austria’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Austrian global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Austria.
- Machinery including computers: US$36.1 billion (16.9% of total exports)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $23 billion (10.7%)
- Pharmaceuticals: $21 billion (9.8%)
- Vehicles: $20.4 billion (9.5%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $9.1 billion (4.3%)
- Iron, steel: $8.7 billion (4.1%)
- Articles of iron or steel: $7.2 billion (3.3%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $6.1 billion (2.9%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $6 billion (2.8%)
- Wood: $5.5 billion (2.6%)
Austria’s top 10 export product categories generated about two-thirds (66.9%) of the overall value of Austrian shipments.
Pharmaceuticals represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 19.3% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales was electrical machinery and equipment via a 13.6% advance.
Austria’s shipments of plastics, both as materials and articles made from plastic, posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 3.5%.
The leading decliner among Austria’s top 10 export categories was mineral fuels including oil, pulled down by a -21.4% year-over-year drop.
Note that the results listed above are at the categorized two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
From the more granular four-digit HTS code perspective, Austria’s most valuable exported product is blood fractions including antisera (6.2% of Austrian exports by value). In second place were cars (3.8%), medication mixes in dosage (3.2%), phone devices including smartphones (2.4%), automobile parts or accessories (2.3%), piston engines (1.5%), electrical energy (1.4%), non-alcoholic drinks excluding water, juice and milk (also 1.4%), electrical converters and power units (1.1%), then flat-rolled other alloy steel products (also 1.1%).
Products Creating Austria’s Largest Trade Surpluses
Austria incurred an overall US$1.9 billion trade surplus for 2024, reversing a -$2.9 billion deficit one year earlier in 2023.
The following types of Austrian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Machinery including computers: US$9.4 billion (Down by -9.8% since 2023)
- Pharmaceuticals: $9.3 billion (Up by 47.8%)
- Iron, steel: $4.3 billion (Up by 3.4%)
- Paper, paper items: $2.58 billion (Up by 9.9%)
- Wood: $2.56 billion (Up by 11.3%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $2.1 billion (Down by -17.6%)
- Other base metal goods: $1.16 billion (Down by -23.8%)
- Articles of iron or steel: $1.13 billion (Up by 6.2%)
- Manmade staple fibers: $1.06 billion (Up by 12%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $791.4 million (Up by 51.5%)
Austria has highly positive net exports in the international trade of machines including computers. In turn, these cashflows indicate Austria’s strong competitive advantages under the machinery including computers category.
Products Causing Austria’s Worst Trade Deficits
Below are exports from Austria that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Austria’s goods trail Austrian importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$9.2 billion (Down by -23.4% since 2023)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: -$2.5 billion (Up by 30.8%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): -$2.48 billion (Up by 46.7%)
- Vehicles: -$2.4 billion (Up by 32.3%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$1.9 billion (Down by -37.1%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting , signs, prefab buildings: -$1.41 billion (Up by 9.2%)
- Fruits, nuts: -$1.36 billion (Up by 14.8%)
- Footwear: -$1.36 billion (Up by 41%)
- Ores, slag, ash: -$1.2 billion (Down by -18.5%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: -$1.1 billion (Up by 3.2%)
Austria has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits, historically for both crude and refined petroleum oils under the energy-related product category.
These cashflow deficiencies clearly indicate Austria’s competitive disadvantages in international mineral fuels-related markets, but also represent key opportunities for Austria to improve its position in the global economy through focused innovations particularly in alternative energy sources.
Austrian Export Companies
Ten Austrian corporations rank among Forbes Global 2000. Below is a sample of the major Austrian companies that Forbes included.
- Andritz (other industrial equipment)
- OMV Group (oil, gas)
- STRABAG (construction services)
- Uniqa (diversified insurance)
- Voestalpine (iron, steel)
Wikipedia also lists exporters from Austria. Selected examples are shown below.
- Ams AG (semiconductors)
- Austria Metall (metals)
- Borealis (polyethylene, plastics)
- Bösendorfer (pianos)
- Julius Meinl (coffee)
- KTM (motorcycles)
- OMV (petroleum)
- Red Bull GmbH (beverages)
- Rosenbauer (fire-fighting vehicles)
- Runtastic (smartphone apps)
In macroeconomic terms, Austria’s total exported goods represent 32.1% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($667.2 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 32.1% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 35.7% for 2023. This suggests a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Austria’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Please note that these metrics include a significant amount of re-exporting activity.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Austria’s unemployment rate averaged 5.597% for 2024, up from 5.1% one year earlier in 2023 according to International Monetary Fund statistics.
Austria’s capital city is Vienna.
See also Austria’s Top Trading Partners, Austria’s Top 10 Imports, Switzerland’s Top Trading Partners, Poland’s Top Trading Partners and Slovakia’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on April 20, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on April 20, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on April 20, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on April 20, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on April 20, 2025
Wikipedia, Austria. Accessed on April 20, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on April 20, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Austria. Accessed on April 20, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on April 20, 2025
X-rates.com, Exchange Rates: Euro to US Dollar (monthly average 2024). Accessed on April 20, 2025