Austrian foreign trade grew rapidly in 2010, indicating that it has shaken off the impact of the economic crisis, said Statistics Austria on Friday.

According to a report from Statistics Austria, in 2010, Austrian imports reached 113.5 billion Euros, increasing by 16.3 percent, while exports reached 109.2 billion Euros, increasing by 16.5. However, its trade deficit also increased from 3.8 billion Euros in 2009 to 4.3 billion Euros in 2010.

Austrian foreign trade's recovery was mainly due to the general trend of a global economy recovery. Austrian foreign trade has turned to rise since the first quarter of last year. Till the third quarter, both of its imports and exports growths have even reached more than 20 percent.

In 2010, Austrian exports were 9.0 billion Euros more than the government originally expected.

Reinhold Mitterlehner, Austrian Minister of Economy, estimated that the trend of export growth would continue this year, and Austrian exports would be expected to return to the level before the economic crisis.

Christoph Leitl, president of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce also expected that Austrian exports would keep active in 2011 and its growth would be expected to reach 10 percent, so that the total amount of Austrian exports would exceed the historical record of 117.5 billion Euros in 2008.

In 2012, Austrian exports would be still likely to keep a growth rate of 9 percent. The active exports would continue to be important drivers of national economic growth, according to him.

The report shows that the EU remains the most important export market to Austria, accounting for 70 percent of its total exports.

However, the importance of markets outside the EU is increasing. In 2010, Austrian exports to the EU grew by 15.6 percent, while the exports to non-EU countries grew by 18.6 percent, of which exports to China even increased by nearly 40 percent.

Austrian exports to Japan, Brazil, Mexico and Turkey also grew by more than 30 percent.

Chemical products, machinery and vehicles remained the most important export commodities for Austria.

The most obvious growths of Austrian imports were the raw material, fuel and energy products. Imports of raw materials increased by 47.6 percent, while fuel and energy products also increased by 24.7 percent. (One U.S. dollars = 0.7191 euros)