Food imports are increasing significantly faster than exports

When it comes to food, Austria’s foreign trade balance is traditionally negative, but last year it even went towards a record deficit. From January to September 2024, the balance was minus 1.25 billion euros, more than four times as much as the previous year.

Agrarmarkt Austria Marketing (AMA) reported on these figures on Thursday in Berlin, one day before the start of the international agricultural trade fair “Green Week”. The figures for the full year are not yet available.

According to preliminary data from Statistics Austria, Austria’s agricultural exports rose by 0.4 percent to 12.65 billion euros from January to September. Imports increased by 7.9 percent to 13.9 billion. If you only take the quantities into account, exports rose by seven percent and imports by 10.8 percent.
The reasons for the higher foreign trade deficit include the increased prices, for example for olive oil, coffee, citrus fruits and spices, which come to Austria as finished products or raw materials/semi-finished products. At the same time, due to high inflation, more consumers at home and abroad turned to cheaper non-Austrian products, such as own brands in stores. The prices achieved in exports fell slightly again in 2024.

“Austria has lost a significant amount of competitiveness, especially due to high personnel and energy costs, and food exporters are also noticing this,” said Josef Domschitz, deputy managing director of the Food Industry Association in the Chamber of Commerce.
However, the share of agricultural exports in Austria’s total exports rose from 8.3 to 8.8 percent in 2024 due to the recession. In 1995 it was 4.2 percent. “These developments show that the agricultural sector is proving to be a stable anchor of the export economy in turbulent times,” said AMA Marketing Managing Director Christina Mutenthaler-Sipek. But you have to make an effort, look for additional niches and develop markets.
Germany remains Austria’s most important market by far. Despite the poor economy there, exports rose by 3.6 percent to 4.95 billion euros. “Thanks to the high quality of our products,” said Mutenthaler-Sipek. The switch to the “animal husbandry plus” track in the dairy sector was also elementary. In second place is Italy (minus 3.1 percent to 1.31 billion), in third place is Hungary (minus 0.5 percent to 474 million). There were strong increases in Poland and Romania, and a slump in the USA. The latter is due to the relocation of Red Bull bottling to the USA and is one of the reasons for the deficit.

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