Economic Buzz: German exports down 2.1% in April

In April 2025, German exports were down 1.7% and imports were up 3.9% on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis compared with March 2025. Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) further reports that exports decreased by 2.1% from April 2024 while imports rose by 3.8%.

After calendar and seasonal adjustment, Germany exported goods to the value of 131.1 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 116.5 billion euros in April 2025.

The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 14.6 billion euros in April 2025. The calendar and seasonally adjusted surplus stood at 21.3 billion euros in March 2025. In April 2024, the surplus was 21.6 billion euros.

On a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, Germany exported goods to the value of 72.9 billion euros to the Member States of the European Union (EU) in April 2025, while it imported goods to the value of 59.8 billion euros from these countries in the same period. Compared with March 2025, calendar and seasonally adjusted exports to EU countries rose by 0.9% and imports from these countries increased by 4.5%.

Exports of goods to countries outside the EU (third countries) amounted to 58.1 billion euros in April 2025 and imports from these countries totalled 56.7 billion euros, on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis. Compared with March 2025, exports to third countries declined by 4.8% while imports from third countries rose by 3.4%.

Most German exports in April 2025 went to the United States. After seasonal and calendar adjustment, exports of goods to the United States decreased by 10.5% compared with March 2025, with the value of exports falling to 13.0 billion euros.

Most imports in April 2025 came from the People's Republic of China. Goods to the value of 13.9 billion euros were imported from there, on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis. This was a decrease of 4.1% compared with the previous month.

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