BERLIN: Germany had record exports and imports in March 2015 according to Destatis, the federal statistics office.
Germany exported goods to the value of €107.5bn and imported goods to the value of €84.5bn in March 2015. These were the highest monthly export and import values ever recorded. Based on provisional data, the Destatis says that exports increased by 12.4% and imports by 7.1% in March 2015 year on year. After calendar and seasonal adjustment, exports rose by 1.2% and imports by 2.4% compared with February 2015.
The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of €23.0bn in March 2015. In March 2014, the surplus amounted to €16.7bn. In calendar and seasonally adjusted terms, the foreign trade balance recorded a surplus of €19.3bn in March 2015.
According to provisional results of the Deutsche Bundesbank, the current account of the balance of payments showed a surplus of €27.9bn in March 2015, which takes into account the balances of trade in goods including supplementary trade items (+€24.4bn), services (–€1.7bn), primary income (+€8.6bn) and secondary income (–€3.4bn). In March 2014, the German current account showed a surplus of €22.0bn.
In March 2015, Germany dispatched goods to the value of €61.5bn to the member states of the European Union (EU), while it received goods to the value of €55.0bn from those countries. Compared with March 2014, exports to the EU countries increased by 10.8%, and imports from those countries by 5.1%. Goods to the value of €38.6bn (+9.1%) were dispatched to Eurozone countries in March 2015, while the value of the goods received from those countries was €37.8bn (+4.9%). In March 2015, goods to the value of €23.0bn (+13.7%) were shipped to EU countries not belonging to the Eurozone, while the value of the goods which arrived from those countries was €17.2bn (+5.4%).