China maintained its position as Germany’s largest trading partner last year, just ahead of the USA. At 253.1 billion euros, the volume of imports and exports was only a good 0.7 billion euros higher than the trade in goods with the USA (252.3 billion), as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Wednesday in Wiesbaden. A year earlier the difference was 50.1 billion euros.
German goods traffic with China fell significantly by 15.5 percent compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, the People’s Republic was Germany’s most important trading partner for the eighth year in a row. Business with the United States increased slightly by 1.1 percent.
“China’s dominant position in foreign trade with Germany is crumbling,” wrote the federally owned German foreign trade company Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI) in a recent study. The main reason is China’s weakening economy. “The real estate crisis, geopolitical risks in relation to the USA and weak industrial investments contribute to this,” it said. German companies also changed their strategy on the Chinese market. According to GTAI, they are trying to avoid using China in procurement, among other things.
As in previous years, the Netherlands followed in third place among Germany’s largest trading partners, with exports and imports worth a total of 214.8 billion euros (minus 5.5 percent).
As has been the case since 2015, the most important single market for goods “Made in Germany” has been the USA. Goods worth 157.9 billion euros were exported there (plus 1.1 percent). France was in second place among the most important purchasing countries (116.8 billion), followed by the Netherlands (111.5 billion). (dpa)