Austria's international trade in goods increased significantly in 2021, with imports rising 23.2 percent and exports 16.1 percent year-on-year, Statistics Austria said on Wednesday.

The country imported 177.98 billion euros (197 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods last year, and its exports totaled 165.48 billion euros, according to preliminary data released by Statistics Austria.

The country's trade deficit jumped from 1.85 billion euros in 2020 to 12.5 billion euros last year.

China was Austria's second largest import partner after Germany last year. Austria's imports from China grew by 7.4 percent year-on-year to 13.1 billion euros in 2021.

China was also Austria's ninth largest export partner in 2021.