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TOP 10
List of Austria’s Top 10 Exports

Austria shipped US$152.2 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2016, up by 15.9% since 2009 when the Great Recession kicked in and up by 4.8% from 2015 to 2016.

Austria’s top 10 exports accounted for about two-thirds (65.7%) of the overall value of its global shipments.

Based on statistics from the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook Database, Austria’s total Gross Domestic Product amounted to $415.9 billion in 2016. Therefore, exports accounted for about 36.6% of total Austrian economic output.

From a continental perspective, 77.6% of Austrian exports by value are delivered to other European countries while 9.6% are sold to Asian importers. Austria ships another 7.4% worth of goods to North American clients with 1.1% arriving in Africa.

Given Austria’s population of 8.7 million people, its total $152.2 billion in 2016 exports translates to roughly $17,600 for every resident in that country.

Austria’s unemployment rate was 10.1% as of March 2017 up from 9.4% one year earlier, according to Trading Economics.

TOP 10 

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Austrian global shipments during 2016. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Austria.

  1. Machinery including computers: US$27.5 billion (18.1% of total exports)
  2. Electrical machinery, equipment: $18.6 billion (12.2%)
  3. Vehicles: $14.1 billion (9.3%)
  4. Pharmaceuticals: $8.7 billion (5.7%)
  5. Plastics, plastic articles: $7.2 billion (4.7%)
  6. Iron, steel: $5.9 billion (3.9%)
  7. Articles of iron or steel: $4.7 billion (3.1%)
  8. Wood: $4.7 billion (3.1%)
  9. Paper, paper items: $4.6 billion (3%)
  10. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $4.1 billion (2.7%)

Electrical machinery and equipment was the fastest-growing among these top categories, up 33.7% from 2009 to 2017.

Exported vehicles appreciated by 28.6%, trailed by optical, technical and medical apparatus which gained 23.7%.

The plastics and plastic articles category moved ahead by 22.9%.

Only one top category declined in value over the 7-year period, namely paper and paper items which depreciated by -6.1%.

Advantages

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 is 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.

  1. Machinery including computers: US$6.4 billion (Up by 14.4% since 2009)
  2. Pharmaceuticals: $3 billion (Up by 39.3%)
  3. Paper, paper items: $2.4 billion (Down by -4%)
  4. Iron, steel: $2.3 billion (Down by -0.6%)
  5. Wood: $1.8 billion (Down by -5.8%)
  6. Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $1.7 billion (Up by 33.1%)
  7. Other base metal goods: $1.2 billion (Up by 102.6%)
  8. Manmade staple fibers: $1 billion (Up by 24.5%)
  9. Aluminum: $663.3 million (Down by -1.4%)
  10. Aircraft, spacecraft: $615.6 million (Down by -218.5%)

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.

Opportunities

Overall, Austria incurred a -$5.4 billion trade deficit for 2016 up 7.5% from the -$5 billion deficit during 2009.

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.

  1. Mineral fuels including oil: -US$7.3 billion (Down by -24.7% since 2009)
  2. Vehicles : -$3.5 billion (Up by 82.2%)
  3. Organic chemicals: -$3.3 billion (Up by 148.7%)
  4. Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): -$1.7 billion (Up by 15.2%)
  5. Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: -$1.6 billion (Up by 30.4%)
  6. Furniture, bedding, lighting , signs, prefab buildings: -$1 billion (Up by 135.1%)
  7. Footwear: -$840.6 million (Up by 41%)
  8. Fruits, nuts: -$835.3 million (Up by 28.8%)
  9. Gems, precious metals: -$794.4 million (Down by -64.8%)
  10. Rubber, rubber articles: -$777.4 million (Up by 26.1%)

Austria has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for both crude and refined petroleum.

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.

Companies

Austrian Export Companies

Ten Austrian corporations rank among Forbes Global 2000 for 2015. Below is a sample of the major Austrian companies that Forbes included:

  • OMV Group (oil, gas)
  • Voestalpine (iron, steel)
  • Uniqa (diversified insurance)
  • STRABAG (construction services)
  • Andritz (other industrial equipment)

Wikipedia also lists exporters from Austria. Selected examples are shown below:

  • Austria Metall (metals)
  • Borealis (polyethylene, plastics)
  • KTM (motorcycles)
  • OMV (petroleum)
  • Bösendorfer (pianos)
  • Julius Meinl (coffee)
  • Red Bull GmbH (beverages)
  • Rosenbauer (fire-fighting vehicles)
  • Ams AG (semiconductors)
  • Runtastic (smartphone apps)