Germany Trade Statistics 2009

Major German Exports and Imports

Apr 1, 2010
Daniel Workman

German Passenger Car Sales - ANITA.trans (Flickr)

Top German car makers including Audi, BMW, Volkswagen and Porsche took a major hit in 2009 as German passenger car sales to the U.S. slumped by almost 40%.

The value of German exports to the world slowed by 25% to an estimated US$1.1 trillion in 2009 from $1.5 trillion in 2008. According the CIA World Factbook, top trade customers for Germany’s exports are France (10.2% of total German exports), Netherlands (6.7%), United States (6.7%), United Kingdom (6.6%), Italy (6.3%), Austria (6%), China (4.5%) and Switzerland (4.4%).

Germany imported $931.3 billion worth of products from other countries during 2009, 24.4% less than the $1.2 trillion in imported items during 2008. Major trade partners that supply Germany with imported products are Netherlands (8.5% of total German imports), China (8.2%), France (8.2%), Italy (5.9%), United States (5.9%), United Kingdom (4.9%), Austria (4.3%) and Belgium (4.3%).

Germany trade statistics do show a $189.7 million international trade surplus in 2009. This was a 28.7% fall-back from Germany’s $266 million trade surplus in 2008.

Germany Trade Statistics with USA in 2009

Latest US Census Bureau statistics show that German exports to the U.S. fell 26.9% to $71.3 billion in 2009.

American imports shipped to Germany totaled $43.3 billion in 2009. That amount represents a 20.6% drop from $54.5 billion in the prior year.

Germany achieved a $43 billion trade surplus with the U.S. during 2009. That figure is 35% lower than Germany’s $28 billion surplus in 2008.

Major German Exports

During 2009, all 10 product categories in the following list of major German exports to the U.S. experienced percentage losses. The smallest percentage decline was 6% for pharmaceutical preparations, while automotive engines was the loss leader with a 40.7% slowdown.

Passenger cars … US$11.2 billion (15.7% of exports, down 39% from 2008)
Pharmaceutical preparations … $8.7 billion (12.2%, down 6%)
Other scientific, medical and hospital equipment … $3.7 billion (5.2%, down 13.3%)
Other industrial machinery … $3.4 billion (4.8%, down 26.7%)
Other automotive parts and accessories … $3 billion (4.2%, down 23.8%)
Industrial engines … $1.8 billion (2.6%, down 32.5%)
Automotive engines and engine parts … $1.75 billion (2.5%, down 40.7%)
Electric apparatus … $1.7 billion (2.3%, down 27.5%)
Measuring, testing and control instruments … $1.48 billion (2.1%, down 26.7%)
Industrial organic chemicals … $1.47 billion (2.1%, down 25.5%).

Fastest-Growing Export Sales by Germany

Newsprint and coals lead the fastest-growing export sales by Germany to America in 2009. Admittedly, the amounts for those product categories are still modest at less than $10 million.

Newsprint … US$4.3 million, up 13,613% from 2008
Coal … $8.1 million, up 877.6%
Raw hides, skins and furs… $1.3 million, up 225.7%
Non-monetary gold … $7.4 million, up 92.8%
Military aircraft and parts … $77.4 million, up 84.5%
Vegetables … $21.4 million, up 67%
Complete civilian aircraft … $1.5 billion, up 63.4%
Railway transportation equipment … $70.2 million, up 32.7%
Liquified petroleum gases … $5.9 million, up 28.8%
Nuclear fuels and materials … $619.6 million, up 27.5%.

Major German Imports from US

In 2009, nine of the major German imports from America posted declining sales. The only exception was American-made pharmaceutical preparations, which also happens to lead all other major German imports from the U.S.

Pharmaceutical preparations … US$6.7 billion, up 19% from 2008 (15.5% of imports)
Complete civilian aircraft and parts … $5.1 billion, down 4.7% (11.9%)
Passenger cars … $4.7 billion, down 44.5% (10.9%)
Medicinal equipment … $2.2 billion, down 11.2% (5.2%)
Other chemicals… $1.3 billion, down 9.9% (3%)
Semiconductors … $1.27 billion, down 32.7% (2.9%)
Other industrial machines … $1.1 billion, down 30.3% (2.6%)
Telecommunications equipment … $1.07 billion, down 17.8% (2.5%)
Measuring, testing and control instruments … $1.04 billion, down 24% (2.4%)
Other automotive parts and accessories … $1.03 billion, down 20.7% (2.4%).

Fastest-Growing German Imports from America

By far, the top growth export from the U.S. to Germany was military aircraft. Also among the fastest-growing German imports from America are nuclear fuel materials and sportswear.

Complete military aircraft … US$60.9 million, up 25,269% from 2008
Nuclear fuel materials … $140.4 million, up 551.5%
Audio and visual tapes … $40.7 million, up 400.2%
Other commercial vessels … $6.7 million, up 350.6%
Aircraft launching gear … $32.7 million, up 144.8%
Chemical fertilizers … $117.8 million, up 98.4%
Metallurgical grade coal … $164.9 million, up 31.5%
Sports apparel and gear … $13.9 million, up 30.8%
Military aircraft engines and turbines … $109 million, up 26.3%
Pharmaceutical preparations … $6.7 billion, up 19%.

Germany’s Competitive Trade Advantages and Disadvantages

Germany exported $11.2 worth of passenger cars to the U.S. last year, while paying $4.7 billion for imported American cars. The resulting $6.5 billion in net exports for Germany is a testament to the Germans’ competitive advantage in German passenger car sales to the U.S. In contrast, Germany exported $471 million worth of semi-conductors to the U.S. while importing $1.27 billion worth of semiconductors from America.

U.S. had net exports of $799 million in its trade of semiconductors with Germany. These Germany trade statistics clearly show that one of America’s competitive trade advantages is in semiconductor exports.

See also Germany's Top Exports and Imports with US So Far in 2010.

Sources:This analysis is based on latest statistics from the US Census Bureau - Foreign Trade Statistics and CIA World Factbook as of the date of article publication.