According to figures released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, German exports increased in January by 2.1% compared to December, to 130.6 billion euros, while imports decreased by 3.4%, to 113.9 billion euros. In annual terms, exports grew by 8.6%, while imports increased by 5.2%. Against this background, the trade surplus increased by 6.7 billion euros compared to December 2022, amounting to 16.7 billion euros. Economists had expected an increase to only 11.1 billion euros.
The volume of exports of goods to the member states of the European Union (EU) increased by 0.7% on a monthly basis, to 71.9 billion euros, while imports of goods from the same countries increased by 0.6%, to 59.6 billion euros. The value of goods exported to the eurozone countries amounted to 50.8 billion euros (+0.5%), and the value of goods imported from there amounted to 40.3 billion euros (-1.0%). Goods worth 21.1 billion euros (+1.3%) were exported to EU countries outside the eurozone, while the value of goods imported from these countries amounted to 19.4 billion euros (+3.9%).
The data also showed that exports of goods to countries outside the EU (third countries) amounted to 58.7 billion euros (+3.8%), while imports from these countries amounted to 54.2 billion euros (-7.5%). Most of the German exports were shipped to the US, while most of the imports to Germany came from China.