The aim of the study is to examine the regional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its individual waves on foreign trade in food and agro-based products in the world's largest trading countries. The study was based on the statistical database of the International Trade Centre (ITC). In addition to the basic analysis, use was made of the auto-correlation method to detect special relationships between foreign food trade of different countries. The results show that the pandemic has had the greatest impact on agricultural and food trade in the United States, but it has spilled over to other countries as well, especially its two major trading partners, the European Union and China. Food trade stagnated in the initial period of the pandemic, but later recovered relatively well. The six examined regions can be divided into three groups based on the typical features of their autocorrelation.

The study seeks to answer the question as to why the combined performance of agriculture and forestry can be explained by the fact that in an EU member state with an agricultural disadvantage and with an advanced economy, the size of the cultivated area is high. The reasons are complex and suggest a deliberately chosen strategy, the essence of which is that in Austria the social perception of agriculture is far more favorable than it would be expected from its GDP contribution. The reasons for this are partly rooted in the history of the past, but may also be linked to a more immediate and strategic decision making primarily on the transformation of the agricultural product structure, the efficient use of resources from the EU, the use of sophisticated tools for rural tourism and, last but not least, on the widespread shaping of the attitudes of the population.