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Austria: Spectacular increase in trade
Austrian imports and exports of tomato pastes and preserves have increased dramatically over the past two years, but the growth rate of the trade deficit remains broadly unchanged; trade in sauces is not affected by this new dynamic.
For almost two years, the pace of Austrian trade in tomato products, particularly pastes (HS codes 200290) and canned tomatoes (HS codes 200210), has accelerated sharply: for the former, imports, which had slowly increased from around 14,000 t in 2005 to 32,000 t in 2019, have literally jumped to 45,000 t in 2021, then 67,000 t in 2023, and finally 106,000 t in 2024, representing an increase of 103% compared to the average performance of the previous three years. For the latter, foreign purchases increased steadily from 12,000 t in 2005 to nearly 26,000 t in 2020, then climbed sharply to nearly 42,000 t in 2023 and nearly 63,000 t in 2024 (+91% compared to the average for the 2021-2023 period).
It is important to note, however, that Austrian exports of tomato pastes and canned tomatoes also recorded strong growth, bringing the 2024 results to nearly 68,000 t for concentrates (a 297% increase compared to the 2021-2023 period) and nearly 38,000 t for canned goods, a performance 328% higher than that of the previous three years.
The case of trade in sauces (HS codes 210320) seems different, where no sudden increase in annual dynamics is observed: with 29,000 tonnes imported and nearly 22,000 tonnes exported in 2024, the sauces sector recorded, compared to the level of activity of the previous three years, notable increases of 18% in imports and 35% in exports, which nevertheless remain very moderate compared to the increases observed in the paste and canned tomatoes sectors. Over the two decades as a whole, the Austrian trade deficit for tomato sauces and ketchups fluctuated without significant variation around an annual average of between 7,000 and 8,000 tonnes of products, ending last year with a very slight improvement at -7,200 tonnes (see additional data at the end of the article).
For obvious commercial and geographical reasons, the intensification of trade in tomato pastes (HS codes 200290) has reinforced a long-standing pattern in which Austria appears to act as a transit platform between leading European (Italian and Spanish) processing industries and German and, to a lesser extent, Polish, French, Romanian, etc. customers.
This has been particularly true in recent years, and even more so in 2023 and 2024, with the remarkable increase in imports of concentrated tomato purees with a dry matter content of less than 12%, in immediate packaging with a net content of less than or equal to 1 kg (customs codes 20029019): the Austrian trade balance for this category of low-concentration products intended for the final consumer saw the quantities mobilized from Italy increase from an average of 9,000 t over the period 2020-2022 to more than 30,000 t in 2023 and more than 60,000 t last year; it is also important to highlight the creation of a supply stream from Spain in this same category, which followed a similar trend, from 0 t until 2022 to 4,300 t in 2023 and then 8,100 t in 2024.
New export flows also appeared in this same category of concentrated purees under codes 20029019, which moved Austria's trade balance with Germany from a chronic deficit until 2020 to a very large surplus in 2024 (+28,600 t); this dynamic also includes the emergence of more modest but entirely new export flows to Poland, Romania, France, Hungary, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, to name only the most significant. Over the past two years, no fewer than twenty countries' trade balances have suddenly generated surpluses (around 50,000 t) for Austria, which have largely offset deficits with Italy, Spain, and a few others, and resulted in the total annual Austrian trade balance for concentrated purees with less than 12% dry matter remaining virtually unchanged at around -17,000 t.
It is indeed clear that despite the sharp increases in its import and export components, the deficit in the Austrian trade balance for tomato pastes has neither sharply nor abnormally widened over the past two years; the deficit, which already reached nearly 32,000 t in 2019-2020 has gradually increased to around 38,500 t in 2023-2024, and the average annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past ten years (4.6%) is even slightly lower than that of the 2005-2015 period (5.7%).
This relative stability in the growth of the tomato pastes trade balance, indifferent to sudden increases in trade flows, tends to confirm the fact that the significant variations in 2023 and 2024 are driven solely by import-export trade activity and that domestic demand, linked to national consumption, inventory dynamics, and secondary industrial processing activities, has not experienced any significant variation.
This relative stability in the growth of the tomato pastes trade balance, indifferent to sudden increases in trade flows, tends to confirm the fact that the significant variations in 2023 and 2024 are driven solely by import-export trade activity and that domestic demand, linked to national consumption, inventory dynamics, and secondary industrial processing activities, has not experienced any significant variation.
Recent developments in Austrian trade dynamics for canned tomatoes (HS codes 20021) call for similar comments to those already made for tomato pastes: significant increases in imports and exports have been observed in this sector, which, however, have not significantly affected the trade balance (see additional data at the end of the article); the tonnages mobilized are lower than those in the tomato paste sector and leave an annual deficit of around 25,000 t, virtually stable over the past three years, and whose annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past ten years (4.6%) is also lower than that of the 2005-2015 period (5.2%).
The various dynamics discussed for tomato pastes, canned tomatoes and tomato sauces, result in a trade deficit of several tens of millions of US dollars, with a significant reduction from 2023 to 2024. The relative stability of the volume balance and the deflation recorded in world tomato paste and canned tomatoes prices reduced the Austrian deficit last year to around €62 million, compared to €105 million in 2023.
Some additional data
Trends in Austrian exports, imports, and trade balance for the tomato sauce and ketchup sector since 2005.
Trends in Austrian exports, imports, and trade balance for the tomato sauce and ketchup sector since 2005.
Trends in Austrian exports, imports, and trade balance for the canned tomato sector since 2005.
Source: TDM
