Germany’s March ’24 trade surplus hits € 22.3b

Germany’s foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 22.3 billion euros in March 2024, with exports valued at 134.1 billion euros and imports at 111.9 billion euros, the federal statistics office reported on Tuesday.

This marks a recovery from February’s surplus of 21.4 billion euros and a significant increase from March 2023’s 17.2 billion euros.

Trade with EU countries saw Germany exporting goods worth 73.3 billion euros and importing goods worth 58.8 billion euros. Exports to EU countries rose by 0.5 per cent, and imports increased by 1.5 per cent compared to February 2024.

Trade with non-EU countries amounted to 60.9 billion euros in exports and 53.1 billion euros in imports. Exports to these countries increased by 1.3 per cent, while imports fell by 1.1 per cent compared to the previous month.

The United States was the largest recipient of German exports, which rose by 3.6 per cent to 14.3 billion euros. Exports to China increased by 3.7 per cent to 8.3 billion euros, while exports to the UK declined by 3.8 per cent to 6.4 billion euros.

China was the largest source of imports to Germany, with goods worth 13.7 billion euros, a 14.3 per cent increase from the previous month. Imports from the US rose by 2.7 per cent to 7.6 billion euros, while imports from the UK dropped by 10.0 per cent to 2.8 billion euros.

Trade with Russia saw a significant decline, with exports falling by 14.8 per cent to 0.6 billion euros and imports dropping by 16.3 per cent to 0.2 billion euros compared to February 2024. This represents a decrease of 35.3 per cent in exports and 45.9 per cent in imports compared to March 2023.

In nominal terms, Germany exported goods worth 136.8 billion euros and imported goods worth 112.9 billion euros in March 2024, resulting in a trade surplus of 23.9 billion euros. Compared to March 2023, exports decreased by 8.3 per cent and imports fell by 9.6 per cent.