Press release No. 157 of 8 May 2020

Exports, March 2020
108.9 billion euros
-11.8% on the previous month (calendar and seasonally adjusted)
-7.9% on the same month a year earlier

Imports, March 2020
91.6 billion euros
-5.1% on the previous month (calendar and seasonally adjusted)
-4.5% on the same month a year earlier

Foreign trade balance, March 2020:
17.4 billion euros
12.8 billion euros (calendar and seasonally adjusted)

Current account according to calculations of the Deutsche Bundesbank, March 2020
24.4 billion euros

WIESBADEN – Germany exported goods to the value of 108.9 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 91.6 billion euros in March 2020. Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that exports declined by 7.9% and imports by 4.5% in March 2020 year on year. Compared with February 2020, exports were down 11.8% and imports 5.1% after calendar and seasonal adjustment.
For exports, this was the strongest month-on-month decline after calendar and seasonal adjustment since the beginning of the time series in August 1990. Imports saw the largest month-on-month decrease since January 2009 (-6.5%).

The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 17.4 billion euros in March 2020. In March 2019, the surplus was 22.3 billion euros. In calendar and seasonally adjusted terms, the foreign trade balance recorded a surplus of 12.8 billion euros in March 2020.

The German current account of the balance of payments showed a surplus of 24.4 billion euros in March 2020, which takes into account the balances of trade in goods (+18.0 billion euros), services (-0.3 billion euros), primary income (+9.5 billion euros) and secondary income (-2.7 billion euros). In March 2019, the German current account showed a surplus of 30.9 billion euros.

Trade with EU countries

In March 2020, Germany exported goods to the value of 55.6 billion euros to the Member States of the European Union (EU), while it imported goods to the value of 48.7 billion euros from those countries. Compared with March 2019, exports to the EU countries fell by 11.0% and imports from those countries by 8.0%. Goods to the value of 38.3 billion euros (-14.0%) were exported to the Euro area countries in March 2020, while the value of the goods imported from those countries was 34.0 billion euros (-7.8%). Germany exported goods to the value of 17.3 billion euros (-3.8%) to EU countries not belonging to the Euro area in March 2020 and imported goods worth 14.8 billion euros (-8.6%) from those countries.

Trade with non-EU countries

Exports of goods to countries outside the European Union (third countries) amounted to 53.4 billion euros in March 2020 and imports from those countries totalled 42.8 billion euros. Compared with March 2019, exports to third countries decreased by 4.3% and imports from those countries by 0.1%.

Flows of commodities and services
in EUR bn

Item	March	January to March	February	March	January to March
	2020			2019
1 According to calculations of the Deutsche Bundesbank.
Foreign trade
1   Exports (f.o.b.)	108.9	324.9	109.2	118.2	335.9
2   Imports (c.i.f.)	91.6	273.1	88.6	95.9	281.3
3  Foreign trade balance (1-2)	17.4	51.8	20.6	22.3	54.6
Transition to trade in goods 1
4  Supplementary trade items	0.6	1.6	0.2	2.4	2.1
Current account balances 1
5  Trade in goods (3+4)	18.0	53.3	20.8	24.7	56.8
6  Services	-0.3	-1.3	-0.2	-0.3	-1.7
7  Primary income	9.5	26.9	7.3	10.1	25.9
8  Secondary income	-2.7	-14.0	-4.2	-3.6	-16.7
Current account (5+6+7+8)	24.4	65.0	23.7	30.9	64.3

Groups of countries

Item	March 2020	January to March 2020	Percentage change from
			March 2019	January to March 2019
	billion euro		%
Total exports	108.9	324.9	-7.9	-3.3
including:
EU Member States	55.6	172.2	-11.0	-3.7
Euro-zone	38.3	120.0	-14.0	-5.9
Non-euro-zone	17.3	52.2	-3.8	1.6
Third countries	53.4	152.7	-4.3	-2.8
including:
United Kingdom	7.4	19.5	-9.0	-14.5
Total imports	91.6	273.1	-4.5	-2.9
including:
EU Member States	48.7	145.1	-8.0	-4.4
Euro-zone	34.0	100.1	-7.8	-5.2
Non-euro-zone	14.8	45.1	-8.6	-2.5
Third countries	42.8	128.0	-0.1	-1.2
including:
United Kingdom	3.1	10.4	-14.6	5.6

 

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 billion euros	change on the same month of the previous year in %	value in billion euros	change on previous month in %	value in billion euros	change on the same month of the previous year in %	value in billion euros	change on previous month in %
1 Using J-DEMETRA+ (X-13 ARIMA).
2019	January	108.8	1.6	112.1	0.3	94.3	5.3	93.3	0.9
	February	108.9	4.0	110.8	-1.2	91.1	5.8	92.9	-0.4
	March	118.2	1.8	112.3	1.4	95.9	5.3	93.0	0.0
	April	110.0	-0.3	109.5	-2.5	92.2	2.5	92.2	-0.8
	May	114.2	4.7	110.5	0.9	93.6	5.1	91.9	-0.3
	June	106.1	-8.0	110.6	0.1	89.5	-4.1	92.4	0.6
	July	115.0	3.6	110.9	0.3	93.7	-1.0	91.2	-1.3
	August	101.6	-3.6	110.0	-0.8	85.2	-2.9	91.3	0.2
	September	114.1	4.6	111.6	1.5	93.0	2.2	92.4	1.2
	October	119.7	2.1	112.8	1.0	98.5	-0.1	92.6	0.3
	November	113.1	-2.7	110.9	-1.7	94.8	-1.4	92.4	-0.3
	December	98.1	2.4	111.0	0.2	82.9	1.4	91.9	-0.5
2020	January	106.7	-1.9	111.2	0.1	92.9	-1.5	92.5	0.6
	February	109.2	0.3	112.5	1.2	88.6	-2.8	91.1	-1.5
	March	108.9	-7.9	99.2	-11.8	91.6	-4.5	86.5	-5.1

First detailed provisional results (only in german) by country of origin/country of destination and by chapter of the Commodity Classification for Foreign Trade Statistics as well as a comparative table (only in german) based on the country of origin/country of consignment concepts are available for downloading.