Last year, the German export surplus fell to its lowest level in more than 20 years. Goods worth around 1.564 trillion euros were exported, and imports were worth around 1.488 trillion euros, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday in Wiesbaden.
This resulted in an export surplus of 76 billion euros – the lowest value since 2000. In 2021 the value of exports exceeded that of imports by 175.3 billion euros. In a comparison of 2021 and 2022, the export surplus was thus more than halved.
According to the statistics office, the background to this development was in particular the high cost of importing energy due to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
In order to reduce energy imports from Russia as quickly and largely as possible, Germany had to cover its needs from other suppliers at short notice last year, which was sometimes very expensive.
“The export balance for the year is not as good as it seems,” warned the Federation of German Industries (BDI). Adjusted for prices, German exports developed two percentage points weaker than global trade last year.
“The export country Germany lost world market share and competitiveness last year,” explained BDI General Manager Tanja Gönner.
Nevertheless, a record year for German exporters
At the same time, Germany’s exporters achieved record results in 2022 as a whole, despite the recently weakening economy. With the export of goods “Made in Germany” with a total value of a good 1564 billion euros, the record for 2021 of a good 1368 billion euros was exceeded by 14.3 percent.
However, the increase can also be explained by the significant price increases in recent months. These drove up the value of both exports and imports. The effects cannot be precisely quantified, since the Wiesbaden statisticians do not collect price-adjusted data on foreign trade.
The year 2022 ended weakly for German foreign trade: compared to the previous month, exports fell by 6.3 percent and imports fell by 6.1 percent. Among other things, sales in important customer markets such as the USA and China weakened.
Imports to Germany rose even more strongly than exports due to the high energy prices in 2022 as a whole: At 1488.1 billion euros, imports were 24.1 percent above the previous year’s value.
The federal government expects a difficult year for German exporters. Exports are likely to grow by just 2.2 percent in 2023, according to the annual economic report. The “subdued development of the global economy” is initially dampening the prospects of German exporters on the international sales markets. (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
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