That dollar metric reflects a 30.5% gain from $171.5 billion 5 years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, the total value of Austrian exports advanced 9.9% compared to $203.8 billion starting from 2022.
The top 5 largest importers of exports that Austria sells are Germany, United States of America, Italy, Switzerland and Poland. Added together, that quintet of major buyers of Austrian products bought half (50.5%) of Austria’s total exports by value in 2023.
Applying a continental lens, nearly four-fifths (79.4%) of Austria’s exports by value was delivered to fellow European countries while 8.9% was sold to importers in North America. Austria shipped another 8.8% worth of goods to Asia.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in Africa (1.1%), Latin America (1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.7%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Austria’s Top Trading Partners
Below is a list showcasing 25 of Austria’s top trading partners, countries that imported the most Austrian shipments by dollar value during 2023. Also shown is each import country’s percentage of total Austrian exports.
- Germany: US$64.1 billion (28.6% of Austria’s total exports)
- United States: $15.9 billion (7.1%)
- Italy: $13.5 billion (6%)
- Switzerland: $11.2 billion (5%)
- Poland: $8.3 billion (3.7%)
- Slovakia: $8.3 billion (3.7%)
- Belgium: $8.1 billion (3.6%)
- France: $8 billion (3.6%)
- Hungary: $7.9 billion (3.5%)
- Czech Republic: $7.8 billion (3.5%)
- United Kingdom: $5.9 billion (2.6%)
- mainland China: $5.5 billion (2.4%)
- Slovenia: $4.5 billion (2%)
- Romania: $4.4 billion (2%)
- Netherlands: $4 billion (1.8%)
- Spain: $3.5 billion (1.5%)
- Türkiye: $2.2 billion (1%)
- Mexico: $2.14 billion (1%)
- Sweden: $2.12 billion (0.9%)
- Croatia: $2.11 billion (0.9%)
- Japan: $1.9 billion (0.9%)
- Canada: $1.8 billion (0.8%)
- South Korea: $1.57 billion (0.7%)
- Ireland: $1.55 billion (0.7%)
- Australia: $1.4 billion (0.6%)
Almost nine-tenths (88.3%) of Austrian exports in 2023 was delivered to the above 25 trade partners.
The fastest growers from 2022 to 2023 among the listed customers for Austria’s exports were Ireland (up 223.2%), Belgium (up 157.7%), Slovakia (up 116.6%), Mexico (up 21.3%) and the United States of America (up 19.8%).
The severest year-over-year reductions were attributed to importers of Austria’s exported products in South Korea (down -15.3% from 2022), Slovenia (down -10.9%) and Italy (down -2.3%).
Countries Generating Austria’s Largest Trade Deficits
Austria incurred an overall -US$1.15 billion trade deficit for 2023, slowing by -94.9% from -$22.7 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2022.
As defined by Investopedia, a country whose total value of all imported goods is higher than its value of all exports is said to have a negative trade balance or deficit.
It would be unrealistic for any exporting nation to expect across-the-board positive trade balances with all its importing partners. Similarly, that export country doesn’t necessarily post a negative trade balance with each individual partner with which it exchanges exports and imports.
Austria incurred the highest trade deficits with the following countries.
- Germany: -US$20.6 billion (country-specific trade deficit in 2023)
- Netherlands: -$7.4 billion
- Czech Republic: -$2.8 billion
- Vietnam: -$2.6 billion
- mainland China: -$2.2 billion
- Kazakhstan: -$1.5 billion
- Libya: -$1.1 billion
- Switzerland: -$531 million
- Türkiye: -$525.3 million
- Hong Kong: -$407.9 million
Among Austria’s trading partners that cause the greatest negative trade balances, Austrian deficits with the Netherlands (up 255.4%), Vietnam (up 120.1%) and Germany (up 84.4%) grew at the fastest pace from 2022 to 2023.
In addition, Hong Kong and Switzerland went from garnering multi-million-dollar surpluses in 2022 to recording the deficits shown above.
These cashflow deficiencies clearly indicate Austria’s competitive disadvantages with the above countries, but also represent key opportunities for Austria to develop country-specific strategies to strengthen its overall position in international trade.
Countries Creating Austria’s Best Trade Surpluses
Based on Investopedia’s definition of net importer, a country whose total value of all imported goods is lower than its value of all exports is said to have a positive trade balance or surplus.
Austria incurred the highest trade surpluses with the following countries.
- United States: US$10.4 billion (country-specific trade surplus in 2023)
- United Kingdom: $3.5 billion
- Belgium: $3 billion
- France: $2.61 billion
- Romania: $2.52 billion
- Slovakia: $2.46 billion
- Mexico: $1.93 billion
- Hungary: $1.86 billion
- Canada: $1.34 billion
- Russia: $1.33 billion
Among Austria’s trading partners that generate the greatest positive trade balances, Austrian surpluses with the United Kingdom (up 104.8%), Romania (up 90%) and the United States of America (up 82.6%) grew at the fastest pace from 2022 to 2023.
Moreover, Belgium and Slovakia reversed large trade deficits with Austria in 2022 to realizing the billion-dollar surpluses listed above.
These positive cashflow streams clearly indicate Austria’s competitive advantages with the above countries, but also represent key opportunities for Austria to develop country-specific strategies to optimize its overall position in international trade.
Companies Servicing Austrian Trading Partners
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)
See also Austria’s Top 10 Exports, 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 October 24. 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on October 24. 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 24. 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 24. 2024
Wikipedia, Austria. Accessed on October 24. 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Austria. Accessed on October 24. 2024