Austrian exports weaken to well below long-term average

Austrian exports have shown weak growth of only one percent for the first eight months of 2014 despite the global export market picking up from the middle of the year, the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) revealed Thursday.
The IHS said a quantitative analysis of export trends over the past 15 years has shown Austrian and German exports have fluctuated almost synchronously, though German exports have for the first time during that period overtaken those of Austria increasing 2.8 percent from January to August.
The domestic Austrian export growth is also considerably weaker than the eight percent average annual growth recorded during the boom years between 2002 and 2007.
The Vienna-based research institute said stagnating exports of capital and consumer goods are largely to blame for the overall situation, both of which have improved in neighboring Germany since April/May.
For the full year of 2014 the IHS expects the nominal increase in goods exports to hold, though still well below the long-term average. It added however the current weakening in the exchange rate should be beneficial for the domestic export sector by increasing price competitiveness outside of the euro monetary union.