Press release No. 215 of 5 June 2023
Exports (calendar and seasonally adjusted exports of goods), April 2023
130.4 billion euros
+1.2% on the previous month
+1.5% on the same month a year earlier
Imports (calendar and seasonally adjusted imports of goods), April 2023
112.0 billion euros
-1.7% on the previous month
-10.3% on the same month a year earlier
Foreign trade balance (calendar and seasonally adjusted), April 2023
+18.4 billion euros
WIESBADEN – In April 2023, German exports were up 1.2% and imports were down 1.7% on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis compared with March 2023. Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that exports increased by 1.5% from April 2022, while imports fell by 10.3% year on year.
After calendar and seasonal adjustment, Germany exported goods to the total value of 130.4 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 112.0 billion euros in April 2023. The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 18.4 billion euros in April 2023. The calendar and seasonally adjusted surplus stood at 14.9 billion euros in March 2023 and 3.6 billion euros in April 2022.
Trade with EU countries
On a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, Germany exported goods to the value of 71.4 billion euros to the Member States of the European Union (EU) in April 2023, while it imported goods to the value of 59.1 billion euros from these countries in the same period. Compared with March 2023, calendar and seasonally adjusted exports to EU countries rose by 4.5%, while imports from these countries fell by 0.4%. The value of the goods exported to euro area countries totalled 49.9 billion euros (+4.4%) in April 2023, and the value of the goods imported from these countries was 38.9 billion euros (-1.7%). In April 2023, goods to the value of 21.4 billion euros (+4.8%) were exported to EU countries not belonging to the euro area, while the value of the goods imported from these countries was 20.1 billion euros (+2.1%), on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis.
Trade with non-EU countries
Exports of goods to countries outside the EU (third countries) amounted to 59.0 billion euros in April 2023, while imports from these countries totalled 52.9 billion euros, on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis. Compared with March 2023, exports to third countries declined by 2.4% and imports from third countries fell by 3.0%.
Most German exports in April 2023 went to the United States. After seasonal and calendar adjustment, exports of goods to the United States were up 4.7% compared with March 2023, with the value of exports to the United States rising to 13.1 billion euros. Exports to the People's Republic of China increased by 10.1% to 8.5 billion euros, while exports to the United Kingdom fell by 5.2% to 6.1 billion euros.
Most imports in April 2023 came from the People's Republic of China. Goods to the value of 12.9 billion euros were imported from there, which represented a 1.9% increase compared with the previous month, after calendar and seasonal adjustment. Imports from the United States rose by 2.9% to 8.0 billion euros. Imports from the United Kingdom dropped by 6.4% to 2.8 billion euros during the same period.
Exports to the Russian Federation declined a calendar and seasonally adjusted 17.8% to 0.7 billion euros in April 2023 compared with March 2023. Compared with April 2022, when exports to Russia decreased dramatically as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine, exports fell by 4.6%. Imports from Russia fell by 7.6% to 0.3 billion euros in April 2023 from March 2023, and were down 91.5% compared with April 2022.
Original foreign trade values (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects)
Germany exported goods to the value of 121.9 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 106.7 billion euros on a nominal basis (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects) in April 2023. Compared with April 2022, exports in April 2023 therefore decreased by 1.8%, and imports fell by 12.4%. The unadjusted foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 15.2 billion euros in April 2023. In April 2022, the surplus was 2.4 billion euros.
Methodological notes:
The differing comparative periods must be taken into account in all press releases on short-term indicators. Short-term economic monitoring focuses on comparisons of seasonally and calendar adjusted figures with those of the previous month or quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. Year-on-year comparisons enable longer-term comparisons of levels and are not influenced by seasonal fluctuations. The results of month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year comparisons may differ considerably at present because of the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine.
The results in this press release are provisional data from monthly foreign trade statistics. As detailed results are not available this early, it is not possible to provide information on the reasons for changes in foreign trade as a whole or in trade with individual countries or groups of countries.
To meet changes in user needs, more importance has been attached to calendar and seasonally adjusted results in the press releases on foreign trade statistics since reference month January 2022. Many users wish to use foreign trade statistics for time series comparisons, for instance, to show how exports have developed compared with the previous month or the same month a year earlier. Such comparisons are of limited informational value if they are based on original values and the seasonal and calendar effects these values entail. Calendar and seasonal adjustment removes these effects. Detailed explanations on calendar and seasonal adjustment are included in the “Saisonbereinigung im Außenhandel“ (only in German) methodological paper. When evaluating calendar and seasonally adjusted values, it is important to remember that adjusted values are always notional calculated values. For this reason, a comparison between adjusted series and unadjusted (nominal) series would serve little purpose.
More information:
More calendar and seasonally adjusted results of foreign trade statistics are available in the GENESIS-Online database (Tables 51000-0020 and 51000-0021). First detailed provisional results on a nominal basis by country of origin/country of destination and by chapter of the Commodity Classification for Foreign Trade Statistics are available for downloading.
Foreign trade results are also available on Dashboard Germany (www.dashboard-deutschland.de) (only in German). This data portal of the Federal Statistical Office combines up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of economy, finance, health and mobility. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) tool for real-time economic monitoring.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the related sanctions are having an impact on many parts of the economy and society. Relevant data and information are provided on a special webpage (only in German) (www.destatis.de/ukraine).
| Item | April 2023 | January to April 2023 | Percentage change from | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2023 | January to April 2022 | |||
| billion euro | % | |||
| Total exports | 130.4 | 528.0 | 1.2 | 5.7 |
| including: | ||||
| EU Member States | 71.4 | 286.1 | 4.5 | 5.3 |
| Euro-area | 49.9 | 201.5 | 4.4 | 6.1 |
| Non-euro-area | 21.4 | 84.6 | 4.8 | 3.4 |
| Third countries | 59.0 | 241.9 | -2.4 | 6.2 |
| including: | ||||
| Russian Federation | 0.7 | 3.6 | -17.8 | -44.4 |
| Total imports | 112.0 | 462.4 | -1.7 | -1.6 |
| including: | ||||
| EU Member States | 59.1 | 239.9 | -0.4 | 3.0 |
| Euro-area | 38.9 | 160.1 | -1.7 | -1.4 |
| Non-euro-area | 20.1 | 79.8 | 2.1 | 13.2 |
| Third countries | 52.9 | 222.5 | -3.0 | -6.0 |
| including: | ||||
| Russian Federation | 0.3 | 2.0 | -7.6 | -87.5 |
| Year | Month | Exports | Imports | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| calendar and seasonally adjusted value | original value | calendar and seasonally adjusted value | original value | ||||||
| value in billion euros | change on previous month in % | value in billion euros | change on the same month of the previous year in % | value in billion euros | change on previous month in % | value in billion euros | change on the same month of the previous year in % | ||
2022 | January | 120.3 | 0.0 | 111.7 | 12.9 | 108.4 | -4.7 | 106.3 | 26.1 |
| February | 127.0 | 5.6 | 124.5 | 15.4 | 115.8 | 6.9 | 112.4 | 25.1 | |
| March | 123.5 | -2.8 | 139.7 | 9.2 | 120.7 | 4.2 | 130.5 | 22.8 | |
| April | 128.5 | 4.1 | 124.2 | 10.3 | 124.9 | 3.5 | 121.9 | 26.1 | |
| May | 131.4 | 2.2 | 136.0 | 23.3 | 127.0 | 1.7 | 131.1 | 34.9 | |
| June | 133.8 | 1.8 | 136.6 | 14.7 | 127.4 | 0.3 | 128.6 | 25.1 | |
| July | 131.7 | -1.6 | 128.1 | 10.9 | 127.5 | 0.1 | 123.2 | 26.6 | |
| August | 135.8 | 3.2 | 129.3 | 23.7 | 134.1 | 5.2 | 128.9 | 38.1 | |
| September | 134.5 | -1.0 | 142.3 | 20.3 | 130.6 | -2.6 | 134.4 | 31.7 | |
| October | 135.8 | 1.0 | 135.6 | 11.7 | 128.8 | -1.4 | 130.7 | 20.0 | |
| November | 136.4 | 0.4 | 144.1 | 14.4 | 125.6 | -2.5 | 132.3 | 15.4 | |
| December | 128.2 | -6.0 | 124.7 | 6.6 | 116.9 | -6.9 | 114.0 | 2.9 | |
| 2023 | January | 131.6 | 2.7 | 126.2 | 13.0 | 115.9 | -0.9 | 116.3 | 9.4 |
| February | 137.1 | 4.1 | 132.7 | 6.6 | 120.6 | 4.0 | 115.8 | 3.0 | |
| March | 128.8 | -6.0 | 145.7 | 4.3 | 113.9 | -5.5 | 123.2 | -5.6 | |
| April | 130.4 | 1.2 | 121.9 | -1.8 | 112.0 | -1.7 | 106.7 | -12.4 | |
