In May 2022, German exports were down by 0.5% and imports up by 2.7% on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis compared with April 2022.
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Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that exports increased by 11.7% and imports by 27.8% from May 2021.
Exports to the Russian Federation rose by 29.4% to 1.0 billion euros in May 2022 from April 2022 after dropping sharply by nearly 60% in March 2022 from February 2022 and by 9.9% in April 2022 from March 2022. Compared with May 2021, they were by 54.6% lower.
Imports from Russia declined by 9.8% to 3.3 billion euros in May 2022 from April 2022.
After calendar and seasonal adjustment, Germany exported goods to the total value of 125.8 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 126.7 billion euros in May 2022. The foreign trade balance showed a deficit of 1.0 billion euros in May 2022.
There had been a calendar and seasonally adjusted surplus of +3.1 billion euros in April 2022 and +13.4 billion euros in May 2021.
On a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, Germany exported goods to the value of 67.5 billion euros to the Member States of the European Union (EU), while it imported goods to the value of 61.8 billion euros from those countries in May 2022.
Compared with April 2022, calendar and seasonally adjusted exports to the EU countries dropped by 2.8% while imports from those countries rose by 2.5%.
The value of the goods exported to euro area countries totalled 46.8 billion euros (-2.8%) and the value of the goods imported from there was 42.5 billion euros (+1.6%). Goods to the value of 20.6 billion euros (-2.9%) were exported to EU countries not belonging to the euro area, while the value of the goods imported from those countries was 19.3 billion euros (+4.7%).
Exports of goods to countries outside the EU (third countries) amounted to 58.3 billion euros in May 2022 and imports from those countries totalled 65.0 billion euros on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis. Compared with April 2022, exports to third countries increased by 2.3% and imports from those countries by 2.9%.
Most German exports went to the United States in May 2022, 5.7% more than in April 2022, after seasonal and calendar adjustment. Exports to the United States thus rose to 13.4 billion euros. Exports to the People's Republic of China increased by 0.5% to 8.7 billion euros while exports to the United Kingdom decreased by 2.5% to 5.8 billion euros.
Most imports to Germany came from the People's Republic of China in May 2022. Goods to the value of 18.0 billion euros were imported from there, which was a 1.6% decrease compared with the previous month, after calendar and seasonal adjustment. Imports from the United States rose by 9.7% to 7.4 billion euros. Imports from the United Kingdom dropped by 2.0% to 3.4 billion euros in the same period.
Germany exported goods to the value of 130.3 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 129.8 billion euros on a nominal basis (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects) in May 2022. Compared with May 2021, exports increased by 19.0% and imports by 33.6%. The unadjusted foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 0.5 billion euros in May 2022. In May 2021 the surplus had been +12.4 billion euros.
On a nominal basis, Germany exported goods to the value of 1.1 billion euros to Russia in May 2022. Consequently, the Russian Federation ranked 25th among the major countries of destination for German exports in May 2022. In May 2021, the Russian Federation had still ranked 14th. ■