Export reports record results for 2022 – however, the annual financial statements are weak

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At the end of the year, most German exports went to the USA.

(Photo: dpa)

Berlin Germany’s exporters achieved record results for 2022 as a whole, despite the recent weakening of the economy. Goods “Made in Germany” with a total value of a good 1564 billion euros were delivered abroad last year, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday based on calendar and seasonally adjusted data. This exceeded the record for 2021 of a good 1,368 billion euros by 14.3 percent.

However, the increase can also be explained by the significant price increases in recent months. These drove up the value of both exports and imports. The effects cannot be precisely quantified, since the Wiesbaden statisticians do not collect price-adjusted data on foreign trade.

Imports to Germany rose even more strongly than exports due to the high energy prices in 2022 as a whole: At 1488.1 billion euros, imports were 24.3 percent above the previous year’s value.

However, the year 2022 ended weakly for German foreign trade: In December, exports fell by 6.3 percent compared to the previous month, and imports fell by 6.1 percent. Economists surveyed by Reuters had only expected a minus of 3.3 percent.

In December, exports to the EU countries fell by 4.0 percent compared to the previous month and imports from these countries by 4.8 percent. Compared to November, exports to countries outside the EU decreased by 9.1 percent and imports from there by 7.4 percent.

Difficult year for German exporters

At the end of the year, most German exports went to the USA. However, ten percent fewer goods were exported there than in November. Exports to the United States thus fell to a value of 12.3 billion euros. Exports to China fell by 14.2 percent to 7.6 billion euros, exports to Great Britain fell by 24.3 percent to 5.6 billion euros.

The federal government expects a difficult year for German exporters. Exports are likely to grow by just 2.2 percent in 2023, according to the annual economic report. The “subdued development of the global economy” is initially dampening the prospects of German exporters on the international sales markets.

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