Image: AMA Marketing
Sales of Austrian agricultural exports increased by 6.1 percent to 12.67 billion euros in the first three quarters of 2023, driven by inflation. In the same period, however, volumes fell by six percent to 7.39 billion tons. Christina Mutenthaler-Sipek, the managing director of AMA Marketing, presented these figures on Thursday at a press conference that took place on the occasion of the Green Week in Berlin.
The value of imported goods rose by 7.2 percent to 12.77 billion euros in the same period, while the amount of imports fell by 4.8 percent. The foreign trade balance is therefore negative at 94 million euros.
- You might also be interested in: Why Austrians buy less food
- More on the subject: Supermarket profit margins did not increase “systematically”.
- Further information: Inflation fell to a still high 7.8 percent in 2023
There were quantitative declines in eggs (minus 22 percent) and grain (minus 11.1 percent): According to Mutenthaler-Sipek, there was an extreme increase in eggs in 2022 compared to the previous year because demand recovered after the Corona low in 2021 , “we are seeing a normalization here this year”. The reasons for the decline in grain were larger duty-free quantities from Ukraine for the world market and a better global harvest. There was also a decline in flour, an increase was achieved in beef (13.9 percent) and pork (2.3 percent), for example, and around a third more apples were exported.
Price sensitivity is high
Germany remains the most important sales market for domestic products: products worth 4.81 billion euros were sold there, an increase of 11.4 percent. Our neighbors are particularly in demand for energy drinks, cheese and meat preparations such as sausages. The foreign trade balance with Germany is positive at 278 million euros. “In general, price sensitivity is currently high, including in Germany,” says Mutenthaler-Sipek: Things are particularly difficult for the organic sector at the moment.
The second most important market is Italy with 1.4 billion euros. There was a significant decrease of 30 percent to 396 million euros in exports to the USA: According to AMA Marketing, this is mainly due to the fact that the energy drink manufacturer Red Bull now operates its own US factory.
88.4 percent of sales were achieved in Europe: Nevertheless, the AMA also wants to focus on new markets: Together with France, Canada is to be conquered with domestic cheese.
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