Press release No. 245 of 8 July 2025
Exports (calendar and seasonally adjusted exports of goods), May 2025
129.4 billion euros
-1.4% on the previous month
+0.4% on the same month a year earlier
Imports (calendar and seasonally adjusted imports of goods), May 2025
111.1 billion euros
-3.8% on the previous month
+4.2% on the same month a year earlier
Foreign trade balance (calendar and seasonally adjusted), May 2025
18.4 billion euros
WIESBADEN – In May 2025, German exports were down 1.4% and imports dropped 3.8% on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis compared with April 2025. Compared with May 2024, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) further reports that exports increased by 0.4% and imports rose by 4.2%, based on provisional data.
After calendar and seasonal adjustment, Germany exported goods to the value of 129.4 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 111.1 billion euros in May 2025. The foreign trade balance thus showed a surplus of 18.4 billion euros in May 2025. The calendar and seasonally adjusted surplus stood at 15.7 billion euros in April 2025. In May 2024, the surplus was 22.3 billion euros.
Trade with EU countries
On a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, Germany exported goods to the value of 71.3 billion euros to the Member States of the European Union (EU) in May 2025, while it imported goods to the value of 57.7 billion euros from these countries in the same period. Compared with April 2025, calendar and seasonally adjusted exports to EU countries dropped by 2.2% and imports from these countries fell by 3.6%. The value of the goods exported to euro area countries totalled 49.3 billion euros (-2.6%), and the value of the goods imported from these countries was 37.9 billion euros (-3.2%). Goods to the value of 22.0 billion euros (-1.3%) were exported to EU countries not belonging to the euro area, while the value of the goods imported from those countries was 19.8 billion euros (-4.2%).
Trade with non-EU countries
Exports of goods to countries outside the EU (third countries) amounted to 58.1 billion euros in May 2025, while imports from these countries totalled 53.3 billion euros, on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis. Compared with April 2025, exports to third countries declined by 0.3% and imports from third countries fell by 4.1%.
Most German exports in May 2025 went to the United States. After seasonal and calendar adjustment, exports of goods to the United States decreased by 7.7% compared with April 2025, with the value of exports to the United States falling to 12.1 billion euros, the lowest value since March 2022 (11.9 billion euros). Compared with May 2024, exports to the United States were down 13.8% on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis. Exports to the People’s Republic of China decreased by 2.9% to 6.8 billion euros compared with April 2025. Month on month, exports to the United Kingdom rose 15.1% to 7.2 billion euros.
Most imports in May 2025 came from the People's Republic of China. Goods to the value of 13.8 billion euros were imported from there, on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis. This was a decrease of 1.0% compared with the previous month. Imports from the United States decreased by 10.7% to 7.4 billion euros. Imports from the United Kingdom increased by 4.0% to 3.1 billion euros during the same period.
After calendar and seasonal adjustment, exports to the Russian Federation decreased by 12.1% to 0.5 billion euros in May 2025 from April 2025 and were down 11.1% from May 2024. Imports from Russia rose by 9.4% to 0.1 billion euros in May 2025 compared with April 2025 and were down 39.8% from May 2024.
Original foreign trade values (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects)
Germany exported goods to the value of 130.2 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 112.6 billion euros on a nominal basis (not adjusted for calendar or seasonal effects) in May 2025. Compared with May 2024, exports therefore increased by 2.8% and imports were up 6.1%. The unadjusted foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 17.6 billion euros in May 2025. In May 2024, the surplus was 20.5 billion euros.
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.
Detailed explanations on calendar and seasonal adjustment are included in the "Saisonbereinigung im Außenhandel" methodological paper (only in German). Calendar and seasonally adjusted values are always notional calculated values. For this reason, a comparison between adjusted series and unadjusted (nominal) series would serve little purpose.
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.
| Item | May 2025 | January to May 2025 | Percentage change from | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2025 | January to May 2024 | |||
| billion euros | % | |||
| Total exports | 129.4 | 655.0 | -1.4 | 0.2 |
| including: | ||||
| EU Member States | 71.3 | 356.5 | -2.2 | 1.0 |
| Euro area | 49.3 | 247.2 | -2.6 | 0.6 |
| Non-euro area | 22.0 | 109.3 | -1.3 | 1.9 |
| Third countries | 58.1 | 298.5 | -0.3 | -0.6 |
| including: | ||||
| Russian Federation | 0.5 | 3.0 | -12.1 | -6.4 |
| Total imports | 111.1 | 566.1 | -3.8 | 4.6 |
| including: | ||||
| EU Member States | 57.7 | 291.4 | -3.6 | 2.1 |
| Euro area | 37.9 | 191.7 | -3.2 | 1.6 |
| Non-euro area | 19.8 | 99.7 | -4.2 | 3.3 |
| Third countries | 53.3 | 274.7 | -4.1 | 7.4 |
| including: | ||||
| Russian Federation | 0.1 | 0.5 | 9.4 | -41.0 |
| 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, % | value in billion euros | change on the same month of the previous year, % | value in billion euros | change on previous month, % | value in billion euros | change on the same month of the previous year, % | ||
2024 | January | 129.3 | 1.5 | 126.7 | -1.7 | 104.0 | -2.1 | 104.5 | -11.6 |
| February | 131.4 | 1.6 | 132.2 | 0.1 | 108.8 | 4.6 | 108.1 | -4.8 | |
| March | 130.1 | -0.9 | 134.3 | -11.6 | 109.6 | 0.7 | 112.5 | -12.1 | |
| April | 133.8 | 2.8 | 138.7 | 15.3 | 112.2 | 2.4 | 115.3 | 8.4 | |
| May | 128.8 | -3.7 | 126.7 | -4.6 | 106.6 | -5.0 | 106.1 | -10.7 | |
| June | 127.5 | -1.1 | 128.5 | -8.5 | 107.2 | 0.6 | 106.9 | -9.6 | |
| July | 128.4 | 0.7 | 133.2 | 4.7 | 110.7 | 3.3 | 113.0 | 2.5 | |
| August | 130.4 | 1.5 | 120.3 | -3.2 | 109.3 | -1.3 | 102.0 | -3.0 | |
| September | 128.6 | -1.4 | 130.5 | 0.3 | 111.3 | 1.8 | 111.9 | 1.0 | |
| October | 125.7 | -2.2 | 133.3 | 0.3 | 112.2 | 0.9 | 118.6 | 4.4 | |
| November | 129.2 | 2.8 | 132.6 | -5.4 | 110.0 | -2.0 | 112.2 | -3.8 | |
| December | 129.3 | 0.1 | 111.8 | -2.0 | 107.7 | -2.1 | 97.0 | -1.2 | |
2025 | January | 129.3 | 0.0 | 125.1 | -1.2 | 113.0 | 4.9 | 112.2 | 7.4 |
| February | 131.7 | 1.8 | 130.0 | -1.7 | 113.7 | 0.6 | 111.3 | 3.0 | |
| March | 133.3 | 1.3 | 140.3 | 4.5 | 113.0 | -0.6 | 117.7 | 4.6 | |
| April | 131.2 | -1.6 | 131.6 | -5.1 | 115.4 | 2.2 | 115.8 | 0.4 | |
| May | 129.4 | -1.4 | 130.2 | 2.8 | 111.1 | -3.8 | 112.6 | 6.1 | |
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. Full detailed results for reference month May 2025 will be provided in GENESIS-Online (Tables 51000) as of 18 July 2025.
Foreign trade results can also be found on the Economic Dashboard, which is part of Dashboard Germany (www.dashboard-deutschland.de) (only in German). In this data portal, the Federal Statistical Office brings together up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the labour market, construction, housing, energy and Ukraine. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) tool for real-time economic monitoring.
Important information regarding the GENESIS-Online database:
Our database's new user interface has been available as the main interface version since November 2024. The old interface can still be used to retrieve data for large tables as this is not yet possible in the new version.
Important technical information regarding the GENESIS-Online database:
The following changes to the GENESIS-Online web service interfaces (API) will take effect on 15 July 2025: POST methods of the RESTful/JSON interface will replace the SOAP/XML interface and GET methods of the RESTful/JSON interface. Please adapt your processes now to use POST requests for the RESTful/JSON interface. Detailed technical documentation and more information about the changeover can be found on the GENESIS-Online website.
