Germany’s exports growth decelerates in March, trade with Russia drops further

Germany’s exports increased in March 2022 to EUR 137.4bn compared to EUR 123.3bn in the previous month, according to data by the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis). The imports also grew to EUR 127.7bn from EUR 112.4bn in February.

On an annual basis this translates into an 8.1% growth in exports value, down from 14.5% y/y in February. Imports growth also slowed to 20.1% y/y from 25% y/y in the previous month.

Trade with Russia declined with exports dropping by 62.3% m/m and imports shrinking by 2.4% m/m

The trade surplus was EUR 9.7bn in March, compared to EUR 11bn in the previous month, according to non-seasonally adjusted data. On the other hand, the seasonally and working day adjusted figures point to a trade surplus of EUR 3.2bn, the lowest since December 2000.

According to Destatis, trade with Russia declined further in March, with exports dropping by 62.3% m/m and imports shrinking by 2.4% m/m, due to the sanctions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February. As a result, Russia dropped to 26th most important export destination for German goods, from 15th in the previous month.

More about Germany's foreign trade here