Goods worth 297.9 billion euros were traded between China and Germany, a jump of 20% year on year.
At 84.3 billion euros, however, Germany had the largest trade deficit with China since the start of the time series in 1950, according to Destatis.
Imports amounted to 191.1 billion euros, a jump of 33% over one year and a new record. They largely exceeded exports at 106.8 billion euros (+3%), causing China to move from 2nd to 4th place among the importing countries of Europe’s leading economy.
The United States, Germany’s second partner in terms of trade volume, remained the leading outlet for “made in Germany”, for a value of 156 billion euros imported.
France follows in the ranking with 116.1 billion euros purchased from Germany, an increase of 13% over one year.
In 2022, Germany thus generated its largest trade surplus with the United States (+64.3 billion euros) ahead of France (+46.3 billion euros).
Overall, Germany’s trade surplus, which has been in decline since 2017, was the lowest in 2022 since 2000, falling by half to 79.7 billion euros over one year, due to the strong rising prices for energy imports, Destatis said.
The importance of the United Kingdom for German foreign trade continued to decline in the second year following Brexit: trade totaled 111.0 billion euros in 2022, admittedly 14% more than in 2021, but the Kingdom United now ranks only 11th among Germany’s partners, behind the Czech Republic which entered its place in the top 10.
In 2017, a year following the Brexit referendum, the UK was still Germany’s fifth largest trading partner.
