Foreign trade German economy exports more in August - imports decline

The recovery in German exports continues: In August, companies in Germany again exported more goods abroad than in the previous month of July. However, the mood in important sectors is poor and international competition is becoming tougher.

According to preliminary results published by the Federal Statistical Office, exports increased by 1.3% to 131.9 billion euros compared to July, adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects. Compared to the same month last year, there was a small increase of 0.1 percent.

Hardly any momentum

However, these slight increases should not be reassuring, explained Dirk Jandura, President of the German Association of Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services. Export growth is still lagging behind global momentum and there is still a dangerous mix of economic, structural and administrative crises that has the export economy firmly in its grip.

Jandura also referred to the continuing low level of incoming orders at many companies and the poor mood across all sectors. According to a recent survey by the industry association VDMA, 37% of companies in the important mechanical and plant engineering sector now rate their situation as poor or very poor - six months ago, only 26% of those surveyed said the same. The mood in the German chemical industry has also deteriorated further according to a survey conducted by the Ifo Institute in September.

Imports down

Meanwhile, imports to Germany declined in August. At 109.4 billion euros, they were down 3.4% on the previous month. Compared to August 2023, imports shrank by 3.1%.

The foreign trade surplus amounted to 22.5 billion euros in August. In the previous month of July, the German economy recorded the lowest foreign trade surplus since May 2023 at 16.8 billion euros.

Slightly more goods were delivered to the USA, the most important customer country for the German economy, than in July. Exports there rose by 5.5% to 13.5 billion euros, adjusted for calendar and seasonal effects.

Exports to China also increased slightly compared to the previous month, by 1.9% to 7.4 billion euros. Most imports also came from China with a value of 13.2 billion euros, which was 1.4% less than in July.

Competition is getting tougher

Exports are traditionally the driving force behind the German economy. From January to August, exports amounted to around 1.06 quadrillion euros, 0.9 percent below the previous year's level.

According to estimates by leading economic research institutes, German companies are experiencing growing competition from high-quality industrial goods from China, which are crowding out German exports on the global markets. Added to this are structural problems such as the high energy prices for many German companies in an international comparison.

SDA