In December 2022, German exports were down by 6.3% and imports by 6.1% on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis compared with November 2022.
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Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that exports increased by 5.9% and imports by 3.0% from December 2021.
In 2022 as a whole, exports were up by 14.3% from the previous year after calendar and seasonal adjustment, while imports rose much more strongly by 24.3% on account of the sharply increased prices of energy exports mainly due to the war in Ukraine.
In 2022, the calendar and seasonally adjusted export surplus thus declined for the fifth consecutive year.
After calendar and seasonal adjustment, Germany exported goods to the value of 127.4 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 117.4 billion euros in December 2022.
The foreign trade balance thus showed a surplus of 10.0 billion euros in December 2022. The calendar and seasonally adjusted surplus had been 10.9 billion euros in November 2022 and 6.3 billion euros in December 2021.
On a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, Germany exported goods to the value of 70.9 billion euros to the Member States of the European Union (EU), while it imported goods to the value of 58.7 billion euros from those countries in December 2022.
Compared with November 2022, calendar and seasonally adjusted exports to the EU countries dropped by 4.0% and imports from those countries by 4.8%. The value of the goods exported to euro area countries totalled 49.8 billion euros (-3.2%) and the value of the goods imported from there was 39.9 billion euros (-4.9%).
Goods to the value of 21.1 billion euros (-5.7%) were exported to EU countries not belonging to the euro area, while the value of the goods imported from those countries was 18.8 billion euros (-4.5%).
Exports of goods to countries outside the EU (third countries) amounted to 56.5 billion euros in December 2022, while imports from those countries totalled 58.8 billion euros on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis.
Compared with November 2022, exports to third countries declined by 9.1% and imports from those countries by 7.4%.
Most German exports went to the United States in December 2022, with goods exports down 10.0% on November 2022 after seasonal and calendar adjustment. Exports to the United States thus dropped to 12.3 billion euros.
Exports to the People's Republic of China decreased by 14.2% to 7.6 billion euros and exports to the United Kingdom fell by 24.3% to 5.6 billion euros.
Most imports came from the People's Republic of China in December 2022. Goods to the value of 13.5 billion euros were imported from there, which was a 14.0% decrease compared with the previous month, after calendar and seasonal adjustment.
Imports from the United States were down 7.3% to 7.7 billion euros. Imports from the United Kingdom dropped by 6.6% to 2.9 billion euros in the same period.
Exports to the Russian Federation declined a calendar and seasonally adjusted 16.7% to 0.9 billion euros in December 2022 compared with November 2022 and dropped 59.8% from December 2021. Imports from Russia rose by 0.1% to 1.6 billion euros in December 2022 from November 2022.
Germany exported goods to the value of 123.9 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 114.2 billion euros on a nominal basis (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects) in December 2022.
Compared with December 2021, exports increased by 5.9% and imports by 3.2%. The unadjusted foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 9.7 billion euros in December 2022. In December 2021, the surplus had been 6.3 billion euros.
Germany exported goods to the value of 1,574.0 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 1,494.4 billion euros in 2022. Exports increased by 14.1% and imports by 24.1% compared with 2021. The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 79.7 billion euros in 2022.
That was the lowest surplus of the balance of exports and imports since 2000. In 2021, the surplus was 175.3 billion euros. This means that the export surplus in 2022 was down by more than half from the previous year. ■