Exports in 2023: -1.4% on the previous year

• Share

Press release No. 044 of 5 February 2024

Exports (calendar and seasonally adjusted exports of goods), December 2023
125.3 billion euros
-4.6% on the previous month
-4.6% on the same month a year earlier
2023
1,562.1 billion euros
-1.4% on the previous year

Imports (calendar and seasonally adjusted imports of goods), December 2023
103.1 billion euros
-6.7% on the previous month
-12.4% on the same month a year earlier
2023
1,352.5 billion euros
-9.7% on the previous year

Foreign trade balance (calendar and seasonally adjusted), December 2023:
+22.2 billion euros
2023
+209.6 billion euros

WIESBADEN – In December 2023, German exports were down 4.6% and imports dropped 6.7% on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis compared with November 2023.
Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) further reports that exports also decreased by 4.6% from December 2022 and imports fell by 12.4%. Exports were down 1.4% in 2023 compared with 2022 after calendar and seasonal adjustment, while imports to Germany experienced a much sharper decline of 9.7%.  

Foreign TradeCombination chart with 3 data series.seasonally adjusted values (X-13 Arima), Euro billionView as data table, Foreign TradeThe chart has 1 X axis displaying Time. Data ranges from 2018-01-01 08:00:00 to 2023-12-01 08:00:00.The chart has 1 Y axis displaying values. Data ranges from 2 to 138.

End of interactive chart.

After calendar and seasonal adjustment, Germany exported goods to the value of 125.3 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 103.1 billion euros in December 2023. The foreign trade balance thus showed a surplus of 22.2 billion euros in December 2023. The calendar and seasonally adjusted surplus was 20.8 billion euros in November 2023 and 13.7 billion euros in December 2022.

Trade with EU countries

On a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, Germany exported goods to the value of 67.5 billion euros to the Member States of the European Union (EU) in December 2023, while it imported goods to the value of 54.3 billion euros from these countries in the same period. Compared with November 2023, calendar and seasonally adjusted exports to the EU countries dropped by 5.5% and imports from these countries fell by 7.4%. The value of the goods exported to euro area countries totalled 47.3 billion euros (-6.0%), and the value of the goods imported from these countries was 36.2 billion euros (-7.5%). Goods to the value of 20.2 billion euros (-4.1%) were exported to EU countries not belonging to the euro area, while the value of the goods imported from those countries was 18.1 billion euros (-7.2%).

Trade with non-EU countries

Exports of goods to countries outside the EU (third countries) amounted to 57.8 billion euros in December 2023, while imports from those countries totalled 48.8 billion euros, on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis. Compared with November 2023, exports to third countries declined by 3.5% and imports from third countries fell by 5.9%.

Most German exports in December 2023 went to the United States. After seasonal and calendar adjustment, exports of goods to the United States were down 5.5% compared with November 2023, with the value of exports to the United States falling to 12.7 billion euros. Exports to the People's Republic of China decreased by 7.9% to 7.5 billion euros, and exports to the United Kingdom fell by 4.3% to 7.4 billion euros.

Most imports came from the People's Republic of China in December 2023. Goods to the value of 11.6 billion euros were imported from there, which represented an 8.5% decrease compared with the previous month, after calendar and seasonal adjustment. Imports from the United States rose by 1.9% to 8.2 billion euros. Imports from the United Kingdom dropped by 10.0% to 2.6 billion euros during the same period.

Exports to the Russian Federation increased a calendar and seasonally adjusted 0.4% to 0.7 billion euros in December 2023 compared with November 2023 and dropped 26.7% from December 2022. After calendar and seasonal adjustment, imports from Russia rose by 2.8% to 0.2 billion euros in December 2023 compared with November 2023 and were down 89.0% from December 2022.

Original foreign trade values (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects)

Germany exported goods to the value of 113.1 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 96.4 billion euros on a nominal basis (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects) in December 2023. Compared with December 2022, exports were down 10.7% and imports dropped 16.2%. The unadjusted foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 16.6 billion euros in December 2023. In December 2022, the surplus was 11.6 billion euros.

Foreign trade results (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects) for 2023

Germany exported goods to the value of 1,562.0 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 1,352.6 billion euros in 2023. Exports decreased by 2.0% and imports were down 10.2% compared with 2022. As the drop in imports was much more pronounced than the drop in exports, the export surplus more than doubled from the previous year. The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 209.4 billion euros in 2023. In 2022, the balance decreased to +88.6 billion euros, the lowest figure recorded since 2000, mainly due to the sharp increase in energy import prices.

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. The results of month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year comparisons may differ considerably due to the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine.

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.

To meet changes in user needs, more importance has been attached to calendar and seasonally adjusted results in the press releases on foreign trade statistics since reference month January 2022. Many users wish to use foreign trade statistics for time series comparisons, for instance, to show how exports have developed compared with the previous month or the same month a year earlier. Such comparisons are of limited informational value if they are based on original values and the seasonal and calendar effects these values entail. Calendar and seasonal adjustment removes these effects. Detailed explanations on calendar and seasonal adjustment are included in the "Saisonbereinigung im Außenhandel" methodological paper (only in German). When evaluating calendar and seasonally adjusted values, it is important to remember that adjusted values are always notional calculated values. For this reason, a comparison between adjusted series and unadjusted (nominal) series would serve little purpose.

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.

Foreign trade results are also available on Dashboard Germany at www.dashboard-deutschland.de (only in German). This data portal of the Federal Statistical Office combines up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, health and mobility.
The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) tool for real-time economic monitoring.