Press release: 12.559-150/21

Vienna, 2021-07-06 – The value of imports of goods was at €14.56 bn in April 2021, an increase of 44.9% compared to April 2020, according to preliminary results by Statistics Austria. At the same time, exports of goods rose by 37.7% to €13.67 bn. The balance of trade thus showed a deficit of €0.89 bn. Working-day adjusted, the rates of increase were 46.8% for imports and 38.1% for exports. The strong increase is related to the low level of foreign trade in April 2020. April 2020 was the first reporting month with a continuous lockdown in Austria due to COVID-19.

"Austria's foreign trade continued to pick up strongly in April 2021: Compared to the first lockdown month of April 2020, which was accompanied by massive losses, imports increased by +44.9% and exports by +37.7%. The largest absolute export increases were recorded with Germany, Italy, the United States and Switzerland. As a result, Austria's export economy in April 2021 was 7.4% above the pre-crisis level of April 2019 for imports and 5.0% for exports," said Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas.

The four most important product groups for Austrian foreign trade are machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, chemicals and related products and miscellaneous manufactured articles. Aggregated they showed an import growth of 47.6% to €11.65 bn and their exports rose by 41.3% to €11.63 bn. The highest absolute growth in exports was recorded with machinery and transport equipment (+75.3%).

For more detailed information please refer to the German version. Visualisations of the foreign trade data for 2020 are available in the ITGS-Atlas.

©  STATISTICS AUSTRIA, Last Changed 06.07.2021

  Print    Top