Austrian foreign trade from January to August dropped by more than 20 percent compared to the same period last year.

The foreign trade deficit was nine times more than the previous period, increasing from 283.8 million euros (417.5 million U.S. dollars) to 2,490 million euros (3,673.1 million U.S. dollars).

According to the latest figures of Statistics Austria, Austrian exports from January to August this year fell by 23.8 percent compared to the same period last year, falling to 60.59 billion euros (89.38 billion U.S. dollars). Its imports also declined, by 21 percent to 63.08 billion euros (93.05 billion U.S. dollars).

Imports from EU countries declined by 22.3 percent to 45.97 billion euros (67.81 billion U.S. dollars), while its exports to EU countries fell by 25.3 percent to 43.1 billion euros (63.58 billion U.S. dollars). Austria's trade deficit with the EU for the first eight months reached 2.87 billion euros (4.23 billion U.S. dollars).

In the first eight months of this year, Austrian foreign trade volume with countries outside the EU also declined significantly. Imports fell 17.2 percent to 17.11 billion euros (25.3 billion U.S. dollars), while exports fell 19.7 percent to 17.49 billion euros (25.8 billion U.S. dollars). However, in foreign trade with countries outside EU, Austria recorded a surplus of 380 million euros (560 million U.S. dollars).

Austria is a small country with a small population. Its economic development is strongly dependent on external trade and has been hard hit by the global economic woes. Austrian industrial processing enterprises have been hit especially hard.