Data published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed that in March the volume of German exports decreased by 3.3% compared to February, to 120.6 billion euros, while imports increased by 3.4% on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, and reached 117.4 billion euros. As a result, the trade surplus decreased to 3.2 billion euros compared to 11.1 billion euros in February. Meanwhile, due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, exports to Russia fell by 62.3%, while imports from Russia decreased by 2.4% compared to February.
Destatis reported that the volume of exports of goods by Germany to the countries of the European Union decreased by 1.7% on a monthly basis, to 66.6 billion euros, while the volume of imports of goods from these countries fell by 3%, to 56.7 billion euros. Meanwhile, exports of goods to the eurozone countries decreased by 2.9%, to 45.6 billion euros, and imports of goods from these countries fell by 3%, to 39.2 billion euros. Goods to the value of 21.0 billion euros (+0.9%) were exported to EU countries not belonging to the euro area, while the value of the goods imported from those countries was 17.5 billion euros (-3%).
The data also showed that exports of goods to non-EU countries decreased by 5.1% compared to February, to 54.0 billion euros, while imports from these countries increased by 10.1%, to 60.7 billion euros. Most of the German exports went to the USA (+3.2%, 11.5 billion euros), China (-4.3%, 9.1 billion euros) and the UK (-3.9%, 5.5 billion euros).