Foreign trade

Topics Economy

1,556 bn exports

1,317bn imports

€ 239bn export surplus

Current Notice

Starting from reporting month January 2025, new reporting thresholds for intra-EU trade statistics are in place. The new reporting threshold for intra-EU exports is 1 million Euro (previously 500,000 Euro). The new reporting threshold for intra-EU imports is 3 million Euro (previously 800,000 Euro). Starting from reporting month January 2025, new reporting thresholds for intra-EU trade statistics are in place. The new reporting threshold for intra-EU exports is 1 million Euro (previously 500,000 Euro). The new reporting threshold for intra-EU imports is 3 million Euro (previously 800,000 Euro).

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Press releases

19 February 2025 In 2024, United States became Germany’s most important trading partner once again after nine years

Accounting for a foreign trade turnover (total of exports and imports) of 252.8 billion euros, the United States became Germany’s most important trading partner again in 2024, for the first time since 2015. China came second among Germany's most important trading partners, with a foreign trade turnover of 246.3 billion euros. While trade with the United States grew by 0.1% on the previous year, trade with China declined by 3.1% compared with 2023. This was mainly due to the decrease in exports to China. In each of the years from 2016 to 2023, China ranked first among Germany's most important trading partners. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that the Netherlands was Germany's third most important trading partner after the United States and China, with exports and imports having a combined value of 205.7 billion euros (-4.2%). 

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7 February 2025 Exports in December 2024: +2.9% on November 2024

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22 January 2025 Exports to non-EU countries in December 2024: expected decrease of 0.8% on November 2024

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20 January 2025 Exports to Japan up 7.5% from January to November 2024 compared with the same period a year earlier

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9 January 2025 Exports in November 2024: +2.1% on October 2024

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20 December 2024 Exports to non-EU countries in November 2024: expected increase of 5.5% on October 2024

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Further Press Releases

Current news

The main German export product: motor vehicles

Accounting for 16.8% of exports, motor vehicles and parts thereof were Germany's main export product in 2024. Machinery (13.9%) and chemical products (8.9%) ranked second and third, respectively, among the most important export items.

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The United States is Germany's main trading partner

According to preliminary results, goods worth 252.8 billion euros were traded between Germany and the United States in 2024 (exports and imports).

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Changes as of 2022

Changes to reporting obligations for ITGS from 2022 onwards

The new European Regulations on International Trade in Goods Statistics lead to major changes for providers of statistical information or reporting companies as of reporting month January 2022.

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Tables

Overall development

Annual data

Trading partners

Trading goods

Further information

Globalisation indicators

Database

GENESIS-Online

More data on foreign trade are available from the GENESIS-Online database.

The database content will continuously be extended, and links will be provided here.

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Graphics

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Development of German foreign trade

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Development of foreign trade by months

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Germanys major trading partners, 2024

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The main German trading goods 2024

Experimental statistics

In the "EXSTAT – Experimental statistics section" we regularly publish new and innovative project results of the Federal Statistical Office. These are obtained by using new data sources and methods. Both the degree of maturity and quality of the results differ from those of official statistics, especially regarding harmonisation, coverage and methodology. Nonetheless these results of the statistical offices of the Federation and the Länder offer new and interesting ways of looking at various statistical topics.

Selected articles from the EXSTAT series

Smart business cycle statistics based on satellite data

Satellites can provide images of large areas of the earth’s surface at short intervals. Technological progress has substantially influenced and improved the availability and analysis of satellite data so that they are coming into play also in official statistics.

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Ex­per­i­men­tal statis­tics