Between 1933 and 1939, Germany expanded and strengthened its trade connections with a number of Eastern European countries to a point where their economic expansion became dependent on trade with Germany, making it the dominant economic power in the region. By 1939, the year the Second World War began in Europe, Germany was the largest trading partner of the four countries listed; this was also true of Czechoslovakia in 1937, Poland in 1938, and the Soviet Union in 1940, although the share of total exports to Germany from these countries was lower. German influence increases in the Second World War To consolidate its power in the region, Germany exported its high-quality industrial products to these countries and paid above-market prices to import raw materials and agricultural produce. Following the outbreak of the war, Germany invested more into the farming sectors of the four countries listed, to the point where they were economically subordinate and considered satellite extensions of the German economy. The demand for agricultural imports from these countries impeded their industrialization and prevented them from developing their industries that could compete with Germany. Three of the countries listed would side with the Axis powers as the war escalated. At the same time, Yugoslavia was quickly annexed, and a puppet government was installed, continuing the agricultural supply to Germany. Post-war difficulties Following the war, the four listed countries eventually fell within the Soviet sphere of influence (though Yugoslavia to a lesser extent than the other three), and the dominance of agricultural sectors led to difficulties, as new communist governments attempted to take their economies in a more industrialized direction. The socialist economic systems required the agricultural means of production to be publicly owned (collectivized); however, many rural landowners were unwilling to part from their land; especially in Bulgaria. These factors exacerbated the delaying effect that Germany had had on these countries' industrialization in the 1930s, contributing to the economic imbalances that emerged between Europe's Eastern and Western Blocs in the decades that followed.

Exports in Germany decreased to 131.10 EUR Billion in April from 133.30 EUR Billion in March of 2025. This dataset provides - Germany Exports - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Graph and download economic data for Exports: Value Goods for Germany (XTEXVA01DEQ667S) from Q1 1960 to Q3 2021 about Germany, trade, exports, and goods.

The timeline shows the total value of U.S. trade in goods (export and import) with Germany from 2000 to 2024. In 2024, the total value of U.S. trade in goods with Germany amounted to about 236 billion U.S. dollars; composed of exports worth 75.6 billion U.S. dollars and imports of 160.4 billion U.S. dollars.

Graph and download economic data for International Merchandise Trade Statistics: Trade Balance: Commodities for Germany (XTNTVA01DEQ667S) from Q1 1957 to Q1 2025 about Germany, trade, Net, and goods.

The study deals with the changes in the regional structure of Germany’s foreign trade as well as with the causes of these changes between 1880 and 1938. In this context the regional development of german import and export by continents, regions and counties for the major German tradepartners is described. After that the regional development of the trade flows of all major import- and exportproducts is analysed. The German foreign trade therefore is examined on the basis of the goods on the one hand and on the other on the basis of the countries. For the analysis the researcher collected the data (time series) for the important goods and commodity groups. Further more he developed a consistent definition of the commodity groups, so that they are comparable.
Mehtodology a) Definition and Problem:The following processes hab been defined as structural change:- fundamental shifts in the composition of foreign trade partners, as well as- meaningful and sustained change of direction or volume of important commodities and products that affect the trade with countries or regions. b) Temporal Delimination:Period of investigation is from 1880 to 1938. The statistics for the war years 1914-1918 and 1939 and for the post-war years 1919-1924 have not been included in the analysis because values were not covered or values are very incomplete or unreliable coused by inflation and other circumstances of that period. c) Changes of Territory:The data of the German trade statistics refer from 1880 to February 1906 to the German custom territory, which comprised since 1872 the territory of the German Customs Union, consisting of the 26 states, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Austrian municipalities Jungholz and Mittelberg. The free port areas of Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Geestermünde and Helgoland and parts of the municipality of Hamburg and Cuxhaven did not belong to the German custum territory.Since March 1906 the german trade statistics collected data of the foreign merchandise traffic of the entire German economic area, consists until the Versailler contract of the area of the German Empire including the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Austrian municipalities Jungholz and Mittelberg, excluding Helgoland and the badenese Custum boards. Since 1920 the official trade statistics reports the values of the foreign trade for the German Empire in its new borders. That is to say, the regions of Alsace-Lorraine, the Free City of Danzig, and parts of the Prussian provinces of East Prussia, West Prussia, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Silesia, Posen, Schleswig-Holstein, the Rhine province, the territory of Luxembourg and for the years 1919 to 1935, the Saarland no longer belong to the German economic territory. The expansion of the German Empire territory between 1938 and 1939 by the annexation of Austria, Sudetenland, Bohemia, Moravia, and the Memel territory has been kept out of consideration. For the analysis of the German foreign trade the values of german imports and exports published by the Statistical Office of the German Empire has been used. While comparing the pre-1914 values with values after the first World War, it is important to reconsider the lost of major agricultural areas of East-Germany, which restricts the comparison and it’s explanatory power or validity. On the other hand these changes reveals the changes of Germany’s foreign trade structure. Thus, it becomes obvious how the separation of large agricultural and farming land increased Germany’s import dependency in the food sector as well as Germany’s decreased export opportunities of agricultural products. d) System of commodity groups: The problem of published German trade values of the Official Statistics of the German Empire is, that commodity groups are not defined in terms of their content. Insofar as the information is about single goods (eg.: rye, copper, cotton, etc.), the values are reliable. This is not the case as soon as the information is about commodity groups, such as ‘food’, ‘textiles’, ‘metal goods’, etc., because the structure of the aggregation of specific goods to a commodity group has changed six times over the period of investigation. The list of countries in the german foreign trade statistics has changed as well. Therfore, the author had to revised commodity groups and country lists for the purpose of its analysis and to make them comparable. The author developed the following scheme in order to sort countries into groups or regions: - Europe:Denmarc, Norway, Sweden, Finnland = North EuropeNetherlands, Belgium/Luxembuorg, Great Britain, France, Swizerland = West EuropeJugoslawia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greek, european and asiatic Turkey = South-East EuropePortugal, Spane, Italy = South EuropePoland, Tschechoslowakia, Russia, Baltic States = East EuropAustria-Hungary - America:Canada, United States of America = North-AmericaMexico, Costarica, Duba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador = Ce...

Key information about Germany's Trade Balance

• Germany's Trade Balance recorded a surplus of 16.6 USD bn in Jan 2025, compared with a surplus of 21.7 USD bn in the previous month
• Germany's Trade Balance data is updated monthly, available from Jan 1957 to Jan 2025, with an averaged value of 3.9 USD bn
• The data reached an all-time high of 28.7 USD bn in Jan 2008 and a record low of -443.5 USD mn in May 1991

CEIC converts monthly Trade Balance into USD. Deutsche Bundesbank provides Trade Balance in EUR. Federal Reserve Board average market exchange rate is used for currency conversions. Trade Balance prior to January 1990 covers West Germany only and prior to January 1960 excludes Saarland.

Further information about Germany's Trade Balance

• In the latest reports, Germany's Total Exports reached 133.8 USD bn in Jan 2025, a decrease of 8.7% YoY (year-on-year)
• Total Imports recorded 117.2 USD bn in Jan 2025, an increase of 8.7% YoY (year-on-year)

Germany Exports to Kazakhstan was US$3.24 Billion during 2024, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. Germany Exports to Kazakhstan - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on July of 2025.

Germany Exports: Trade Industry: Raw Materials data was reported at 916.421 EUR mn in Feb 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 881.074 EUR mn for Jan 2025. Germany Exports: Trade Industry: Raw Materials data is updated monthly, averaging 932.479 EUR mn from Jan 2000 (Median) to Feb 2025, with 302 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2,209.876 EUR mn in Mar 2022 and a record low of 440.000 EUR mn in Sep 2001. Germany Exports: Trade Industry: Raw Materials data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistisches Bundesamt. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.JA001: Trade Statistics: Value.

Germany - Balance of trade was EUR14712.20 Million in April of 2025, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Germany - Balance of trade - last updated from the EUROSTAT on July of 2025. Historically, Germany - Balance of trade reached a record high of EUR23064.80 Million in January of 2024 and a record low of EUR2438.10 Million in August of 2022.

Germany - Trade volume indices: Volume Ratio (Export/Import) was 99.50% in December of 2024, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Germany - Trade volume indices: Volume Ratio (Export/Import) - last updated from the EUROSTAT on July of 2025. Historically, Germany - Trade volume indices: Volume Ratio (Export/Import) reached a record high of 110.70% in December of 2013 and a record low of 94.20% in December of 2022.

Germany Exports: Trade Industry: Total data was reported at 116,905.039 EUR mn in Feb 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 112,383.954 EUR mn for Jan 2025. Germany Exports: Trade Industry: Total data is updated monthly, averaging 82,094.606 EUR mn from Jan 2000 (Median) to Feb 2025, with 302 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 140,615.276 EUR mn in Mar 2023 and a record low of 39,099.000 EUR mn in Jan 2000. Germany Exports: Trade Industry: Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistisches Bundesamt. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.JA001: Trade Statistics: Value.

Graph and download economic data for International Merchandise Trade Statistics: Exports: Commodities for Germany (XTEXVA01DEM667S) from Jan 1957 to Apr 2025 about Germany, exports, trade, and goods.

Germany Exports: United States of America data was reported at 13,950,757.000 EUR th in Feb 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 11,975,631.000 EUR th for Jan 2025. Germany Exports: United States of America data is updated monthly, averaging 6,995,131.000 EUR th from Jan 2000 (Median) to Feb 2025, with 302 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 15,328,662.000 EUR th in Sep 2022 and a record low of 3,603,424.000 EUR th in Aug 2009. Germany Exports: United States of America data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistisches Bundesamt. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.JA005: Trade Statistics: By Country. [COVID-19-IMPACT]

Germany exports for 2023 were 1.964 trillion US dollars, a 3.05% increase from 2022.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Germany exports for 2022 were <strong>1.906 trillion US dollars</strong>, a <strong>2.76% increase</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>Germany exports for 2021 were <strong>1.855 trillion US dollars</strong>, a <strong>20.19% increase</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>Germany exports for 2020 were <strong>1.543 trillion US dollars</strong>, a <strong>7.99% decline</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>Exports of goods and services represent the value of all goods and other market services provided to the rest of the world. They include the value of merchandise, freight, insurance, transport, travel, royalties, license fees, and other services, such as communication, construction, financial, information, business, personal, and government services. They exclude compensation of employees and investment income (formerly called factor services) and transfer payments. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Germany DE: Export: Cost: Documentary Compliance data was reported at 45.000 USD in 2019. This stayed constant from the previous number of 45.000 USD for 2018. Germany DE: Export: Cost: Documentary Compliance data is updated yearly, averaging 45.000 USD from Dec 2014 (Median) to 2019, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 45.000 USD in 2019 and a record low of 45.000 USD in 2019. Germany DE: Export: Cost: Documentary Compliance data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.World Bank.WDI: Trade Statistics. Documentary compliance captures the time and cost associated with compliance with the documentary requirements of all government agencies of the origin economy, the destination economy and any transit economies. The aim is to measure the total burden of preparing the bundle of documents that will enable completion of the international trade for the product and partner pair assumed in the case study.;World Bank, Doing Business project (http://www.doingbusiness.org/). NOTE: Doing Business has been discontinued as of 9/16/2021. For more information: https://bit.ly/3CLCbme;Unweighted average;Insurance cost and informal payments for which no receipt is issued are excluded from the costs recorded. Costs are reported in U.S. dollars. Contributors are asked to convert local currency into U.S. dollars based on the exchange rate prevailing on the day they answer the questionnaire. Contributors are private sector experts in international trade logistics and are informed about exchange rates and their movements. Data are presented for the survey year instead of publication year.

In 2023, the value of German imports from China totaled around 157.2 billion euros. Therefore, China was Germany's largest trading partner in terms of import value, followed by the Netherlands with a value of almost 105 billion euros and the United States with a value of almost 95 billion euros of imports. However, when it comes to the value of exported goods from Germany, the United States lead the ranking.

Graph and download economic data for International Merchandise Trade Statistics: Imports: Commodities for Germany (XTIMVA01DEM667S) from Jan 1957 to Apr 2025 about imports, Germany, trade, and goods.

Trade (% of GDP) in Germany was reported at 82.8 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Germany - Trade (% of GDP) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

This statistic shows the German small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engaged in international trade by share of revenue coming from exports as of April 2018. From the responding SMEs 56 percent advised that less than 25 percent of their revenue came from international exports.