In January 2024, German exports were up by 6.3% and imports by 3.6% on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis compared with December 2023. Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that exports increased by 0.3% and imports fell by 8.3% compared with January 2023.
Photo © Wissanu Sirapat | Dreamstime.com
After calendar and seasonal adjustment, Germany exported goods to the value of 135.6 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 108.0 billion euros in January 2024. The foreign trade balance thus showed a surplus of 27.5 billion euros in January 2024. The calendar and seasonally adjusted surplus stood at 23.3 billion euros in December 2023 and 17.3 billion euros in January 2023.
Trade with EU countries
On a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, Germany exported goods to the value of 75.8 billion euros to the Member States of the European Union (EU) in January 2024, while it imported goods to the value of 61.2 billion euros from these countries. Compared with December 2023, calendar and seasonally adjusted exports to EU countries rose by 8.9% and imports from these countries increased by 10.8%. The value of the goods exported to euro area countries totalled 52.7 billion euros (+7.7%), and the value of the goods imported from these countries was 40.4 billion euros (+10.2%). Goods to the value of 23.2 billion euros (+11.7%) were exported to EU countries not belonging to the euro area, while the value of the goods imported from those countries was 20.8 billion euros (+12.0%).
Trade with non-EU countries
Exports of goods to countries outside the EU (third countries) amounted to 59.7 billion euros in January 2024, while imports from these countries totalled 46.8 billion euros, on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis. Compared with December 2023, exports to third countries increased by 3.1% and imports from those countries decreased by 4.5%.
Most German exports went to the United States in January 2024, with goods exports down 1.7% on December 2023 after seasonal and calendar adjustment. The value of exports to the United States thus dropped to 12.5 billion euros. By contrast, exports to the People's Republic of China increased by 7.8% to 8.1 billion euros, and exports to the United Kingdom fell by 8.1% to 6.8 billion euros.
Most imports to Germany came from the People's Republic of China in January 2024. Goods to the value of 10.4 billion euros were imported from there, which represented a 11.1% decrease compared with the previous month, after calendar and seasonal adjustment. Imports from the United States decreased by 5.2% to 7.8 billion euros. Imports from the United Kingdom increased by 18.4% to 3.1 billion euros during the same period.
Exports to the Russian Federation rose by a calendar and seasonally adjusted 1.6% to 0.7 billion euros in January 2024 compared with December 2023. Compared with January 2023, they were down 34.2%. Imports from Russia fell by 8.2% to 0.2 billion euros in January 2024 from December 2023. Compared with January 2023, they were down 82.4%.
Original foreign trade values
Germany exported goods to the value of 131.0 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 108.5 billion euros on a nominal basis (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects) in January 2024. Compared with January 2023, exports were up 1.5% and imports were down 7.5%. The unadjusted foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 22.6 billion euros in January 2024. In January 2023, the surplus was 11.7 billion euros.
More information:
Destatis
www.destatis.de