Austria's Export Economy: Getting Through the Crisis Year 2025 with a “Black Eye”
The Austrian export industry looks back on a turbulent year. As the latest figures from the OeNB export indicator for January 2026 show, nominal goods exports shrank by 0.7% in 2025 as a whole. In real terms—i.e., adjusted for price changes—the decline was slightly more pronounced at 1.4%. Nevertheless, economists are cautiously optimistic: given the global upheavals, the domestic economy has come through relatively unscathed.
Nominal goods exports showed a sideways movement in the first ten months of the year. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / Petr Štefek / CC BY-SA 3.0 CZ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/cz/deed.en)
The year was particularly painful for overseas trade. U.S. customs policy left deep scars on the balance sheets of domestic companies. Exports to the U.S. slumped by a massive 21% in the first ten months of the year.
Specific sectors also weighed on the statistics, including pharmaceuticals, which were primarily responsible for the decline, vehicle manufacturing, which saw significant losses in exports, and the energy sector, which experienced price-related declines in fuels. In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry was considered a crisis-proof rock in the surf. However, according to the OeNB report, this sector was the main driver of the decline in exports in 2025.
Several factors converged here, including a market correction following the record years of the pandemic, demand normalization, and global price pressure, with government austerity measures in consumer countries putting pressure on margins. The sectoral followers are In addition to pharmaceuticals, vehicle manufacturing (transformation to e-mobility) weighed on the balance sheet thanks to the crisis in the automotive industry in Graz, as did the energy sector (price-related declines in fuels).
While the U.S. market weakened overall, the markets in Europe and Asia remained largely stable, but stagnated at the previous year's level.
A glimmer of hope at the end of the year
Despite the gloomy results in the fall, there were signs of stabilization in the fourth quarter. ASFINAG's truck mileage data, an important leading indicator for freight transport, signaled a strong increase at the end of the year. In November, exports rose by 3.8% year-on-year, and by 3.4% in December.
The mood in the boardrooms also brightened at times. UniCredit Bank Austria's purchasing managers' index confirmed an upward trend in export orders in November, although the mood clouded over again somewhat in December due to the volatile global situation.
“The export industry has come through the challenging year 2025 with only minor damage,” according to the press release and the experts at the Austrian National Bank. For 2026, the industry is hoping for a sustained upturn in exports, provided that trade tensions with the US do not escalate further.