Press release No. 085 of 10 March 2025
Exports (calendar and seasonally adjusted exports of goods), January 2025
129.2 billion euros
-2.5% on the previous month
-0.1% on the same month a year earlier
Imports (calendar and seasonally adjusted imports of goods), January 2025
113.1 billion euros
+1.2% on the previous month
+8.7% on the same month a year earlier
Foreign trade balance (calendar and seasonally adjusted), January 2025
+16.0 billion euros
WIESBADEN – In January 2025, German exports were down 2.5% and imports were up 1.2% on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis compared with December 2024. Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that exports decreased by 0.1% and imports rose by 8.7% compared with January 2024.
After calendar and seasonal adjustment, Germany exported goods to the value of 129.2 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 113.1 billion euros in January 2025. The foreign trade balance thus showed a surplus of 16.0 billion euros in January 2025. The calendar and seasonally adjusted surplus stood at 20.7 billion euros in December 2024. In January 2024, the surplus was 25.3 billion euros.
Trade with EU countries
On a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, Germany exported goods to the value of 69.8 billion euros to the Member States of the European Union (EU) in January 2025, while it imported goods to the value of 57.0 billion euros from these countries in the same period. Compared with December 2024, calendar and seasonally adjusted exports to the EU countries dropped by 4.2% and imports from these countries fell by 1.1%. The value of the goods exported to euro area countries totalled 48.4 billion euros (-5.0%), and the value of the goods imported from these countries was 37.7 billion euros (-0.2%). Goods to the value of 21.4 billion euros (-2.3%) were exported to EU countries not belonging to the euro area, while the value of the goods imported from those countries was 19.3 billion euros (-2.7%).
Trade with non-EU countries
Exports of goods to countries outside the EU (third countries) amounted to 59.4 billion euros in January 2025, while imports from these countries totalled 56.1 billion euros, on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis. Compared with December 2024, exports to third countries decreased by 0.4%, while imports from those countries increased by 3.7%.
Most German exports went to the United States in January 2025. After seasonal and calendar adjustment, exports of goods to the United States were down 4.2% compared with December 2024, with the value of exports to the United States falling to 13.0 billion euros. Exports to the People’s Republic of China decreased by 0.9% to 6.7 billion euros. Exports to the United Kingdom increased by 1.7% to 6.8 billion euros.
Most imports in January 2025 came from the People's Republic of China. Goods to the value of 12.9 billion euros were imported from there, on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis. This was a decrease of 2.8% compared with the previous month. Imports from the United States rose by 6.5% to 8.0 billion euros. Imports from the United Kingdom increased by 18.8% to 3.6 billion euros during the same period.
After seasonal and calendar adjustment, exports to the Russian Federation increased by 7.2% to 0.6 billion euros in January 2025 from December 2024 and dropped 9.3% from January 2024. Imports from Russia fell by 15.7% to 0.1 billion euros in January 2025 from December 2024 and were down 37.7% compared with January 2024.
Original foreign trade values (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects)
Germany exported goods to the value of 125.0 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 112.3 billion euros on a nominal basis (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects) in January 2025. Compared with January 2024, exports were down 1.4% and imports rose by 7.5%. The unadjusted foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 12.6 billion euros in January 2025. In January 2024, the surplus was 22.2 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 of calendar adjusted results enable long-term comparisons of levels and are not influenced by seasonal fluctuations or calendar effects.
Detailed explanations on calendar and seasonal adjustment are included in the "Saisonbereinigung im Außenhandel" methodological paper (only in German). Calendar and seasonally adjusted values are always notional calculated values. For this reason, a comparison between adjusted series and unadjusted (nominal) series would serve little purpose.
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.
| Item | January 2025 | Percentage change from | |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | January 2024 | ||
| billion euros | % | ||
| Total exports | 129.2 | -2.5 | -0.1 |
| including: | |||
| EU Member States | 69.8 | -4.2 | -0.3 |
| Euro area | 48.4 | -5.0 | -0.4 |
| Non-euro area | 21.4 | -2.3 | 0.1 |
| Third countries | 59.4 | -0.4 | 0.0 |
| including: | |||
| Russian Federation | 0.6 | 7.2 | -9.3 |
| Total imports | 113.1 | 1.2 | 8.7 |
| including: | |||
| EU Member States | 57.0 | -1.1 | 1.8 |
| Euro area | 37.7 | -0.2 | 1.6 |
| Non-euro area | 19.3 | -2.7 | 2.1 |
| Third countries | 56.1 | 3.7 | 16.9 |
| including: | |||
| Russian Federation | 0.1 | -15.7 | -37.7 |
| 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, % | value in billion euros | change on the same month of the previous year, % | value in billion euros | change on previous month, % | value in billion euros | change on the same month of the previous year, % | ||
2024 | January | 129.3 | 1.5 | 126.7 | -1.7 | 104.0 | -2.1 | 104.5 | -11.6 |
| February | 131.4 | 1.6 | 132.2 | 0.1 | 108.8 | 4.6 | 108.1 | -4.8 | |
| March | 130.1 | -0.9 | 134.3 | -11.6 | 109.6 | 0.7 | 112.5 | -12.1 | |
| April | 133.8 | 2.8 | 138.7 | 15.3 | 112.2 | 2.4 | 115.3 | 8.4 | |
| May | 128.8 | -3.7 | 126.7 | -4.6 | 106.6 | -5.0 | 106.1 | -10.7 | |
| June | 127.5 | -1.1 | 128.5 | -8.5 | 107.2 | 0.6 | 106.9 | -9.6 | |
| July | 128.4 | 0.7 | 133.2 | 4.7 | 110.7 | 3.3 | 113.0 | 2.5 | |
| August | 130.4 | 1.5 | 120.2 | -3.2 | 109.3 | -1.3 | 101.9 | -3.0 | |
| September | 128.6 | -1.4 | 130.5 | 0.2 | 111.3 | 1.8 | 111.9 | 1.0 | |
| October | 125.4 | -2.5 | 132.9 | -0.0 | 112.2 | 0.8 | 118.5 | 4.4 | |
| November | 129.2 | 3.1 | 132.6 | -5.4 | 110.0 | -2.0 | 112.2 | -3.8 | |
| December | 132.5 | 2.5 | 114.6 | 0.4 | 111.8 | 1.6 | 100.6 | 2.5 | |
| 2025 | January | 129.2 | -2.5 | 125.0 | -1.4 | 113.1 | 1.2 | 112.3 | 7.5 |
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 download. Full detailed results for reference month January 2025 will be provided in GENESIS-Online (Tables 51000) as of 20 March 2025.
Foreign trade results are also available on the Economic Dashboard, which is part of Dashboard Germany www.dashboard-deutschland.de (only in German). In this data portal, the Federal Statistical Office brings together up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the labour market, construction, housing, energy and Ukraine. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) tool for real-time economic monitoring.
Important information regarding the GENESIS-Online database:
Our database's new user interface has been available as the main interface version since November 2024. The old interface can still be used to retrieve data for large tables as this is not yet possible in the new version.
