Keyindicators
Export ratio
In national accounts (comparison of the NA/foreign trade concepts), the export ratio shows the relation between the exports of goods and services and the gross domestic product (GDP). It measures the importance of the exports of goods and services in relation to the whole German economic performance.
As exports also contain imported goods, the export ratio must not be misinterpreted as the share of exports in the GDP. The share of the GDP that is generated by foreign demand is shown by the export dependence rate of the GDP, which is much lower than the export ratio.
Balance of exports and imports–to–GDP ratio
In national accounts (comparison of the NA/foreign trade concepts), the balance of exports and imports–to-GDP ratio shows the relation between the balance of exports and imports (difference between exports and imports of goods and services) and the gross domestic product. It corresponds to the share of national savings in GDP (positive sign) or is the relation between national dissaving and GDP (negative sign).
The concept of the national accounts indicator "balance of exports and imports-to-gross domestic product ratio" is comparable with the concept of the foreign trade indicator "foreign trade balance-to-gross domestic product ratio".
Export performance
Export performance according to the foreign trade concept (comparison of the NA/foreign trade concepts) reflects the development of the market shares of German goods abroad by comparing the market shares in a definite period (t) with the market shares in a base year (0). The market shares are obtained as the ratio between the German exports to the 25 major trading partner countries and the total of imports of those 25 countries (source: UN Comtrade). The Federal Statistical Office calculates the German export performance using the following formula:
In addition to the normal export performance the Federal Statistical Office also calculates a variant without energy products, as at least part of the changes in export performance can be attributed to substantially changing energy prices. The reason is that the demand for energy is not very price elastic. An energy price increase leads to an increase in value terms of these goods in total imports of the partner countries, to the disadvantage of other imported goods. As Germany is not a major energy exporter, price increases for energy products lead to a decline in the German export performance.
To calculate the variant without energy products, Chapter 27 of the Harmonized System is excluded for the calculation of the export performance index. Chapter 27 includes the fossil energy sources of coal, oil and gas, their products, and electricity.
Export dependence rate of the GDP
In national accounts (comparison of the NA/foreign trade concepts), the export dependence rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shows the share of the German GDP induced by foreign demand. The GDP depending on exports contains, on the one hand, the GDP directly generated by domestic production of exported goods and services and, on the other hand, the GDP generated from the domestic production of goods and services for intermediate consumption, i.e. for use within the whole production chain of exports.
Export dependence rate of employment
In national accounts (comparison of the NA/foreign trade concepts), the export dependence rate of employment measures the impact of exports on domestic employment. It is the ratio between the average number of persons in employment directly and indirectly working for exports in Germany and the average number of all persons whose place of employment is in Germany. Persons in employment who depend on exports work either directly work in the domestic production of the exported goods and services to be exported or in the domestic production of goods and services for intermediate consumption within the whole production chain of exports. Persons working partly for exports and partly for domestic final uses are only partly taken into account.
Import dependence of exports
In national accounts (comparison of the NA/foreign trade concepts), the import dependence of exports measures the value added of German exports of goods and services that had been originally generated in foreign countries. Foreign value added contained in exports includes export goods from foreign origin and exports after inward processing (without the value of the processing fee) as well as imported goods and services used for intermediate consumption within the domestic production chain of exports.
Share of exports in manufacturing
The share of exports in the manufacturing sector is the sales to customers abroad and the sales to German exporters as a proportion of the total sales in units of manufacturing and mining and quarrying with 50 or more persons employed.
Share of imports in economy-wide material input
The share of imports in economy-wide material input is the imports of goods in tonnes in relation to domestic raw material extraction plus imports of goods - also measured in tonnes.
CO2 emissions abroad from the production of German import goods
The index contains the CO2 emissions that are caused by the production of German import goods abroad. Both the emissions incurred abroad in the production of the imported intermediate goods and the emissions caused in the production of goods for final use (domestic consumption and exports) are included.
The results are obtained from calculations based on an environmentally-extended input-output analysis. For comparison purposes, Kyoto reporting CO2 emissions for Germany are shown.
Terms of Trade
The terms of trade indicate whether the increase in prices of total German exports as compared with the base year has been larger or smaller than the increase in prices of German imports. They are calculated as the relation of export price changes to import price changes.
