Press release No.142 / 2008-04-09

German exports in February 2008: +9.0% on February 2007

WIESBADEN – According to provisional data of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), Germany exported commodities to the value of EUR 84.6 billion and imported commodities to the value of EUR 67.7 billion in February 2008. German exports of February 2008 were thus 9.0% and imports 7.0% above the respective February 2007 levels. Upon calendar and seasonal adjustment, exports remained nearly unchanged on January 2008 and imports were down 0.4%.

The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of EUR 16.9 billion in February 2008. In February 2007, the surplus amounted to EUR 14.3 billion. Upon calendar and seasonal adjustment, the foreign trade balance recorded a surplus of EUR 16.4 billion in February 2008.

According to provisional results of the Deutsche Bundesbank, the current account of the balance of payments showed a surplus of EUR 15.4 billion in February 2008, which included the balance of services (EUR –0.0 billion), factor income (net) (EUR +4.2 billion), current transfers (EUR –5.0 billion) and supplementary trade items (EUR –0.6 billion). In February 2007, the German current account showed a surplus of EUR 11.4 billion.

In February 2008, Germany dispatched commodities to the value of EUR 54.7 billion to the Member States of the European Union, while it received commodities to the value of EUR 44.1 billion from those countries. Compared with February 2007, dispatches to and arrivals from the EU countries increased by 6.7% and 9.1%, respectively. Commodities to the value of EUR 36.3 billion (+5.6%) were dispatched to the euro area countries in February 2008, while the value of commodities received from those countries was EUR 30.7 billion (+8.6%). Commodities to the value of EUR 18.3 billion (+9.1%) were dispatched to EU countries not belonging to the euro area in February 2008, while the value of the commodities which arrived from those countries was EUR 13.4 billion (+10.2%).

Germany exported commodities to the value of EUR 30.0 billion to and imported commodities to the value of EUR 23.6 billion from countries outside the European Union (third countries) in February 2008. Compared with February 2007, exports to third countries were up by 13.5% and imports from those countries by 3.3%.

Flows of commodities and services in EUR billion
Item	February	January to February	January	February	January to February
Item	2008			2007
Discrepancies in the totals are due to rounding.
1 Exports (f.o.b.)	84.6	168.9	84.2	77.6	155.0
2 Imports (c.i.f.)	67.7	134.8	67.1	63.3	124.3
Balance of
3 Foreign trade (1-2)	+16.9	+34.0	+17.1	+14.3	+30.7
4 Services	–0.0	–1.1	–1.1	–0.3	–2.8
5 Factor income (net)	+4.2	+7.3	+3.1	+4.6	+7.9
6 Current transfers	–5.0	–8.5	–3.5	–6.6	–8.5
7 Supplementary trade items	–0.6	–1.5	–0.9	–0.7	–1.6
8 Current account (3+4+5+6+7)	+15.4	+30.1	+14.7	+11.4	+25.8

Groups of countries
Item	February 2008	January to February 2008	Percentage change from
	February 2008	January to February 2008	February 2007	January to February 2007
	EUR billion		%
Total exports	84.6	168.9	+9.0	+8.9
Including:
EU Member States	54.7	108.9	+6.7	+7.1
Euro-zone	36.3	72.5	+5.6	+5.8
Non-euro-zone	18.3	36.4	+9.1	+9.7
Third countries	30.0	60.0	+13.5	+12.5
Total imports	67.7	134.8	+7.0	+8.5
Including:
EU Member States	44.1	87.1	+9.1	+9.9
Euro-zone	30.7	60.4	+8.6	+9.1
Non-euro-zone	13.4	26.6	+10.2	+11.9
Third countries	23.6	47.8	+3.3	+5.9

Foreign trade (special trade)
Exports and imports
Original values/calendar and seasonally adjusted values ¹⁾
Year	Month	Exports				Imports
		original value		calendar and seasonally adjusted value ¹⁾		original value		calendar and seasonally adjusted value ¹⁾
		value in EUR billion	change on the same month of the pre-vious year in %	value in EUR billion	change on previous month in %	value in EUR billion	change on the same month of the pre-vious year in %	value in EUR billion	change on previous month in %
¹⁾ Using Census X-12-ARIMA.
2007	January	77.4	+13.4	78.4	–0.2	61.0	+9.2	62.9	–1.7
	February	77.6	+10.9	79.8	+1.8	63.3	+10.7	65.5	+4.1
	March	83.8	+9.3	79.0	–1.1	65.1	+4.6	63.3	–3.4
	April	78.8	+13.3	80.0	+1.3	63.6	+8.2	63.9	+1.0
	May	78.9	+9.1	79.3	–0.8	61.4	+2.0	61.9	–3.1
	June	81.8	+11.9	80.7	+1.7	65.1	+6.5	65.1	+5.2
	July	81.3	+11.9	80.6	–0.1	63.2	+5.0	63.9	–1.9
	August	77.7	+12.4	82.5	+2.4	63.4	+9.1	66.8	+4.5
	September	81.7	+3.2	83.0	+0.7	63.5	–0.7	65.0	–2.6
	October	88.8	+6.2	83.3	+0.3	69.8	+4.6	65.0	–0.0
	November	87.8	+3.2	83.3	–0.0	68.2	+2.0	63.0	–3.0
	December	73.4	–0.1	82.2	–1.3	62.7	+0.1	66.4	+5.4
2008	January	84.2	+8.8	85.2	+3.6	67.1	+10.0	69.1	+4.0
2008	February	84.6	+9.0	85.2	–0.0	67.7	+7.0	68.8	–0.4

>>> Brief methodological description

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