Import situation of German market
Import situation of German market
Germany is a country located in Central Europe sharing borders with 9 countries, stretching from the Alps, across the North European Plain to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, with an area of 349,380 km2 (ranking 7th in Europe). With such a favorable geographical position, Germany's trade is well developed, accounting for 81.1% of the country's GDP (World Bank, 2021).
In Germany, people speak many different languages, besides their mother tongue, up to 56% of the German population uses English, in addition to French, Russian, Turkish, etc. This has also created favorable conditions for Germany in international trade.
For many years, Germany has maintained its position as the worlds’ 3rd largest exporter and importer of goods (after the US and China). According to ITC Trademap, in 2020, Germany's total import and export turnover reached USD 2,550 billion (accounting for about 67% of Germany's GDP), of which exports reached USD 1.378 billion and imports reached USD 1.172 billion.
Germany has a leading manufacturing industry of the world, and although Germany can self-supply a part, it still has a high demand for imports of manufacturing products such as machinery and equipment, raw materials, fuel... besides the demand for importing consumer goods. Below is a summary of the main imported products of Germany in 2020.
Table: Main imported products of Germany in 2020
|
No |
Main import products of Germany |
Import turnover in 2020 (USD billion) |
Proportion in import turnover |
|
1 |
Chapter 84: Machinery, mechanical appliances, nuclear reactors, boilers; parts thereof |
149.87 |
12.79% |
|
2 |
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 |
149.32 |
12.74% |
|
3 |
Chapter 87: Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock, and parts and accessories thereof |
123.18 |
10.51% |
|
4 |
Chapter 27: Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes |
77.80 |
6.64% |
|
5 |
Chapter 30: Pharmaceutical products |
65.80 |
5.62% |
|
6 |
Chapter 90: Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof |
42.73 |
3.65% |
|
7 |
Chapter 39: Plastics and articles thereof |
41.96 |
3.58% |
|
8 |
Chapter 29: Organic chemicals |
37.81 |
3.23% |
|
9 |
Chapter 71: Natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, precious metals, metals clad with precious metal, and articles thereof; imitation jewellery; coin |
29.23 |
2.50% |
|
10 |
Chapter 73: Articles of iron or steel |
21.94 |
1.87% |
Source: ITC Trademap, 2021
For agricultural products, although not in the top 10 of Germany’s most imported products, their import value of Germany is still significant. In 2020, Germany is the EU country that imports the most fresh and processed fruits and vegetables (USD 23.1 billion), tea - coffee - spices (USD 4 billion), processed seafood (USD 1.65 billion), honey (USD 274 million USD), etc. (Trademap ITC, 2021).
Source: "Business Handbook: Exploiting the EVFTA to import and export goods between Vietnam and Germany" - Center for WTO and International Trade
