Austria Holds Intra-EU Export Market Shares almost Constant despite Difficult Economic Environment

Before the global recession, export growth outperformed economic growth across the EU. The economic crisis hit almost all EU countries through a steep fall in exports, especially exports of goods. Yet, as shown in this article, almost all countries in Europe were hit by the slump in exports simultaneously; hence, intra-EU export market shares were left broadly unchanged by the crisis. This article presents a market share analysis for both goods and services and explores some underlying factors for these developments. From a regional perspective, Central, Eastern and Southeastern European (CESEE) countries gained market shares in the period 2004 to 2012 at the expense of major pre-2004 EU countries (the U.K., France and Italy). From a product perspective, service market shares developed broadly in line with goods market shares. At the same time, service-oriented countries were able to compensate losses in goods market shares by expanding service market shares. Austria managed to keep its market share position almost constant, benefiting most from trade links with Germany. At the product level, Austria strengthened its exports of high-technology good products.