Tough market environment

Exports: decline at a high level

Goods from Vorarlberg are still in demand worldwide

(Bild: ÖBB / Lukas Hämmerle)

The year 2023 was extremely challenging for Vorarlberg's export industry. Although the volume of exports fell noticeably, it still ended with the second-best result in history.

The trade balance report for 2023 compiled by Statistics Austria is a very ambivalent document from Vorarlberg's perspective. On the one hand, it shows that economic development has lost much of its momentum. Overall, the local export industry exported goods with a total value of 13.2 billion euros - that's 3.1 percent less than in the record year of 2022. The volume of imports has plummeted to 9.6 billion euros, a whopping 10.7 percent below the previous year. The bottom line is a trade surplus of 3.6 billion euros.

Decline in China, Mexico on the rise
Despite the decline, Vorarlberg's export industry can still be pleased with the second-best result in its history. This was only possible because companies took the geopolitical upheavals into account and reacted quickly. Exports to China, for example, which had been the most important growth market for years, literally imploded: Export volumes fell by around a quarter. However, this slump was largely compensated for, with exports to Mexico, for example, more than doubling compared to 2022.

Things could continue in this vein in the coming years. Relations between the EU and China, which is currently buying its growth at a high price with state subsidies and flooding the global market with products at dumping prices, are currently characterized by an icy climate, and dark storm clouds are also looming in view of the upcoming US election - an "America first" policy under a President Donald Trump is a horror scenario for many companies. Consequently, it is important to switch to those markets that still offer growth potential, above all India, South East Asia and Latin America. What would also be good for business: if Germany, by far the most important trading partner, were to recover economically.