German exports, imports, Trade Balances and Current Account updates

Germany continues to be a net exporter. According to a press release by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), on December 8^th, Germany’s exports were valued at 108 billion Euros and imports were valued at 89.1 billion Euros for the month of October 2017. The Federal Statistical Office further reported that German’s exports increased by 6.8% in the month of October 2017 year on year. Imports increased by 8.3% in the same month. When this data is compared to September 2017 after seasonal and calendar adjustments, exports were down 0.4% and imports were up by 1.8%.

Exports and imports of commodities and services

According to Destatis, foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 18.9 billion Euros in October 2017. During the same month in 2016, the surplus was 18.8 billion Euros. When seasonal and calendar effects are taken into consideration, the foreign trade balance recorded a surplus of 19.9 billion Euros in October 2017. The Deutsche Bundesbank data show that Germany’s foreign trade balance for the months between January and October 2017 stood at 203.2 billion Euros. The country had a higher foreign trade balance of 208.6 billion Euros for the same number of months in 2016.

According to the provisional results of the Deutsche Bundesbank, the current account of the balance of payments indicates a surplus of 18.1 billion dollars in the month of October 2017. In 2016 October, German current account had a surplus of 18.4 billion. October 2017 surplus takes into account the balance of trade in goods such as supplementary trade items of +20.4 billion, primary income of (+5.5 billion), secondary income of (-4.2 billion) and services of (-3.6 billion).

Exports and imports to EU member countries

64.5 billion Euros worth of goods were exported to the member states of the EU by Germany in October 2017. Over the same period, Germany imported goods worth 59.6 billion Euros from the same member state countries. When compared to October 2016, an increase of 8.7% in exports from EU countries was realized in October 2017. When the same comparison is done for the imports for the same month, an increase of 10.1% was realized. This data can furtherly be influenced by the Catalan independence and its impact the EUR and the whole EU economy.

Goods worth 40.4 billion dollars which represented an increase of 8.6% were dispatched to the Euro area countries in October 2017. The value of goods received from the same countries was 39.8 billion Euros (+9.3%). During the same month of October 2017, Germany exported goods valued at 24.1 billion Euros (+9.1%) to EU countries but not belonging to Euro area. The imports from the same countries were 19.8 billion Euros (+11.9%).

Exports and imports to and from outside the European Union

During the month of October 2017, Germany exported goods worth 43.5 billion Euros to countries outside the European Union (third countries). The imports from the same countries during the same month were 29.4 billion Euros. When these totals are compared to the October 2016 totals, exports went up by 4.1% while imports by 4.8%. Obviously, the exports outside of the EU are having a strong connection with the Euro predictions and forecasts for the year 2018.