Press release No. 228 of 3 June 2022
Exports (calendar and seasonally adjusted), April 2022
126.4 billion euros
+4.4% on the previous month
+12.9% on the same month a year earlier
Imports (calendar and seasonally adjusted), April 2022
122.8 billion euros
+3.1% on the previous month
+28.1% on the same month a year earlier
Foreign trade balance (calendar and seasonally adjusted), April 2022
+3.5 billion euros
WIESBADEN – In April 2022, German exports were up by 4.4% and imports by 3.1% on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis compared with March 2022. Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that exports increased by 12.9% and imports by 28.1% from April 2021. Compared with March 2022, exports to the Russian Federation decreased by 10.0% to 0.8 billion euros in April 2022 because of the sanctions imposed against Russia as a result of the war in Ukraine, further measures to restrict exports, and unsanctioned behaviour of market participants. In March 2022, they already fell sharply by over 60% on February 2022. Imports from Russia declined by 16.4% to 3.7 billion euros in April 2022 from March 2022.
After calendar and seasonal adjustment, Germany exported goods to the total value of 126.4 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 122.8 billion euros in April 2022. The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 3.5 billion euros in April 2022. The calendar and seasonally adjusted surplus had been 1.9 billion euros in March 2022 and 16.1 billion euros in April 2021.
Trade with EU countries
On a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, Germany exported goods to the value of 69.4 billion euros to the Member States of the European Union (EU), while it imported goods to the value of 59.8 billion euros from those countries in April 2022. Compared with March 2022, calendar and seasonally adjusted exports to the EU countries grew by 4.2% and imports from those countries by 2.4%. The value of goods exported to euro area countries was 48.2 billion euros (+5.9%) and of goods imported from there 41.4 billion euros (+1.7%).
Goods to the value of 21.2 billion euros (+0.6%) were exported to EU countries not belonging to the euro area, while the value of the goods imported from those countries was 18.4 billion euros (+3.8%).
Trade with non-EU countries
Exports of goods to countries outside the EU (third countries) amounted to 56.9 billion euros in April 2022, while imports from those countries totalled 63.0 billion euros on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis. Compared with March 2022, exports to third countries increased by 4.7% and imports from those countries by 3.8%.
Most German exports went to the United States in April 2022. 7.7% more goods were exported there after seasonal and calendar adjustment, compared with March 2022. Exports to the United States rose to 12.6 billion euros. Exports to the People's Republic of China decreased by 4.5% to 8.7 billion euros and exports to the United Kingdom rose by 7.1% to 5.9 billion euros.
Most imports to Germany came from the People's Republic of China in April 2022. Goods to the value of 18.4 billion euros were imported from there, which was a 12.3% increase compared with the previous month, after calendar and seasonal adjustment. Imports from the United States were down 1.2% to 6.7 billion euros. Imports from the United Kingdom increased by 5.6% to 3.5 billion euros in the same period.
Original foreign trade values (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects)
Germany exported goods to the value of 122.2 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 120.9 billion euros on a nominal basis (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects) in April 2022. Compared with April 2021, exports increased by 9.2% and imports by 25.2%. The unadjusted foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 1.3 billion euros in April 2022. In April 2021, the surplus had been 15.3 billion euros.
On a nominal basis, Germany exported goods to the value of 0.8 billion euros to Russia in April 2022. Consequently, the Russian Federation ranked only 30th among the major countries of destination for German exports in April 2022. Russia came 26th in March 2022.
Methodological note:
The differing comparative periods must be taken into account in all press releases on short-term indicators. Short-term economic monitoring focuses on comparisons with the previous month or previous quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. A comparison with the previous year is intended to offer a long-term comparison of levels and is not subject to seasonal fluctuations. The results of month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year comparisons may differ considerably at present because of the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine.
To meet changed 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 intend 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. The informational value of such comparisons based on unadjusted values and the seasonal and calendar effects included in them is limited. Calendar and seasonal adjustment is designed to exclude these effects. The X13 JDemetra+ method is used for the calendar and seasonal adjustment of foreign trade data. Related detailed explanations are included in the methodological paper “Saisonbereinigung im Außenhandel“. The fact that adjusted values are always calculated ‘fictitious’ values is important in evaluating calendar and seasonally adjusted values. For this reason, a comparison between adjusted series and nominal series is not useful. The nominal values form the basis for the calculation of calendar and seasonally adjusted results.
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 downloading.
The foreign trade results also form part of the Crisis Monitor (www.destatis.de/krisenmonitor), by means of which the Federal Statistical Office compares the development of major short-term indicators in the Covid-19 crisis and the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. They are also available on the “Corona Statistics” webpage (www.destatis.de/corona) and in the Dashboard Germany (www.dashboard-deutschland.de) (only in german), together with other indicators which can be used to assess the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dashboard Germany portal of the Federal Statistical Office combines up-to-date indicators of official statistics and of other data providers on the topics of economy and finance as well as health and mobility.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the related sanctions have an impact on many parts of the economy and society. We have compiled data and information on the subject for you on a special webpage (only in german).
| Item | April 2022 | January to April 2022 | Percentage change from | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2022 | January to April 2021 | |||
| billion euro | % | |||
| Total exports | 126.4 | 489.4 | 4.4 | 10.9 |
| including: | ||||
| EU Member States | 69.4 | 265.3 | 4.2 | 11.9 |
| Euro-zone | 48.2 | 183.6 | 5.9 | 12.0 |
| Non-euro-zone | 21.2 | 81.7 | 0.6 | 11.7 |
| Third countries | 56.9 | 224.2 | 4.7 | 9.8 |
| including: | ||||
| Russian Federation | 0.8 | 6.6 | -10.0 | -22.6 |
| Total imports | 122.8 | 466.2 | 3.1 | 24.8 |
| including: | ||||
| EU Member States | 59.8 | 231.8 | 2.4 | 15.6 |
| Euro-zone | 41.4 | 161.2 | 1.7 | 18.6 |
| Non-euro-zone | 18.4 | 70.6 | 3.8 | 9.3 |
| Third countries | 63.0 | 234.4 | 3.8 | 35.5 |
| including: | ||||
| Russian Federation | 3.7 | 15.8 | -16.4 | 59.9 |
| 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 in % | 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 % | ||
| 2021 | January | 108.7 | 1.0 | 98.4 | -7.7 | 88.6 | -2.0 | 84.2 | -9.4 |
| February | 109.1 | 0.3 | 107.8 | -1.3 | 91.9 | 3.6 | 89.9 | 1.1 | |
| March | 111.5 | 2.3 | 127.1 | 16.3 | 97.1 | 5.7 | 106.3 | 15.4 | |
| April | 112.0 | 0.4 | 111.9 | 47.4 | 95.9 | -1.2 | 96.6 | 33.7 | |
| May | 112.6 | 0.6 | 109.5 | 35.9 | 99.2 | 3.4 | 97.2 | 32.6 | |
| June | 113.5 | 0.8 | 118.7 | 23.7 | 100.0 | 0.8 | 102.7 | 27.4 | |
| July | 114.9 | 1.3 | 115.1 | 12.0 | 97.8 | -2.3 | 97.3 | 17.0 | |
| August | 113.4 | -1.3 | 104.5 | 14.6 | 99.1 | 1.3 | 93.0 | 17.2 | |
| September | 112.7 | -0.6 | 118.2 | 7.5 | 100.0 | 1.0 | 102.1 | 13.5 | |
| October | 117.2 | 4.0 | 121.4 | 8.2 | 104.6 | 4.6 | 108.8 | 17.6 | |
| November | 119.2 | 1.8 | 126.0 | 12.4 | 108.6 | 3.8 | 114.5 | 20.2 | |
| December | 120.8 | 1.3 | 117.0 | 15.6 | 113.2 | 4.2 | 110.6 | 28.5 | |
2022 | January | 117.3 | -2.9 | 109.5 | 11.3 | 108.9 | -3.8 | 106.3 | 26.2 |
| February | 124.8 | 6.3 | 123.4 | 14.5 | 115.4 | 6.0 | 112.4 | 25.1 | |
| March | 121.0 | -3.0 | 137.9 | 8.5 | 119.1 | 3.2 | 130.4 | 22.6 | |
| April | 126.4 | 4.4 | 122.2 | 9.2 | 122.8 | 3.1 | 120.9 | 25.2 | |
