German Market

Current status of Germany’s goods exports?

Question: Current status of Germany’s goods exports?

Answer: 

Germany is known as one of the world's leading developed economies with extremely vibrant trade activities. According to the World Bank, in 2020, Germany's trade accounted for 81.1% of this country's GDP, of which exports of goods and services accounted for 43.4% of GDP. For many years, Germany has always maintained the 3rd largest export country in the world (after China and the US). In 2020, despite being heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Germany's exports still reached USD 1,377.9 billion, accounted for 8% of total exports worldwide.

The German economy is mainly concentrated in manufacturing and service sectors. German industry is highly specialized, with modern and high technology that can develop and manufacture many sophisticated and complex products, especially new technological equipment. Germany's strong industrial sectors include the manufacturing of aircraft, spacecraft, automobiles, mechanical machinery, electronic equipment, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. These are also products that Germany exports a lot to the world (Table 12). Most of the products exported from Germany are considered to be of good quality, diverse in models and types... In particular, German automobiles are very popular with consumers around the world (including Vietnam). German automobiles now account for nearly 19% of the world's total automobile exports (World's Top Exports).

Table: Top 10 biggest export products of Germany in 2020

No

Products

Export turnover (USD Billion)

Proportion  in Germany's total exports

1

Chapter 84: Machinery, mechanical appliances, nuclear reactors, boilers; parts thereof

           236.40

17.16%

2

 

Chapter 87: Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock, and parts and accessories thereof

           211.16

15.32%

3

Chapter 85: Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles

           151.65

11.01%

4

Chapter 30: Pharmaceutical products

           97.63

7.09%

5

Chapter 90: Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof

           74.49

5.41%

6

Chapter 39: Plastics and articles thereof

           60.34

4.38%

7

Chapter 73: Articles of iron or steel

           28.25

2.05%

8

Chapter 88: Aircraft, spacecraft, and parts thereof

           28.22

2.05%

9

Chapter 38: Miscellaneous chemical products

           26.98

1.96%

10

Chapter 27: Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes

           26.25

1.90%

Source: ITC Trademap, 2021

Besides a leading modern industry Germany also has a very developed agriculture sector. More than 80% of the country's territory is used for agricultural and forestry purposes. The value of German agricultural and food exports amounted to EUR 50 billion in 2019 (german-meat.org, 2019), with key export products including chocolate, cheese, pork, confectionery and some other processed foods.

Source: The Center for WTO and International Trade

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