Austrian food exports up 4.5 pct in 2013

Austrian food exports in 2013 rose 4.5 percent to 9.5 billion euros (around 13 billion U.S. dollars), Agarmarkt Austria Marketing (AMA) revealed in a press release Thursday.

Germany continued to be the biggest export market of Austrian food, particularly milk and sausage products, accounting for about a third of the total export. Increased demand from Italy for the year made it the second largest export market with a value if 1.76 billion U.S. dollars.

Russia's rapidly increasing demand for Austrian food products witnessed 26 percent rise for the year, driven mostly by the demand for Austrian pork.

AMA said cheese and meat products are performing particularly well. Austria exported 54,932 tonnes of cheese to Germany alone in 2013, in addition to 33,985 tonnes of beef.

Franz Stefan Hautzinger of the AMA said quality based on Austria's long-standing tradition and natural foods with strong quality control had brought about trust among countries importing food product from Austria.