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Container ship in the Chinese port (archive image)
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According to an analysis, China further expanded its position as Germany's most important trading partner during the corona crisis - and is thus also stabilizing the economy in this country.
"The importance of Asia and especially China for the German economy has never been as great as it was last year," said Mathieu Meyer from Ernst & Young (EY) of the newspaper "Welt".
The rapid recovery of the Chinese economy after the shutdown in the spring has turned out to be a "stroke of luck, especially for German companies," Meyer told the newspaper.
While sales collapsed in Europe due to the pandemic, business in China recovered surprisingly quickly and generated urgently needed sales.
Foreign trade has so far proven to be a stabilizing factor for the German economy during the corona crisis.
The order books of German industry are well filled, above all thanks to growing orders from abroad.
In November, exports to China even reached a record of 9.3 billion euros.
According to the report, the share of business in China in total sales was correspondingly high last year: at the chip manufacturer Infineon it was 29.1 percent, at the pharmaceutical company Merck 14.4 percent and at Siemens 12.7 percent.
Some groups do not show the China business separately, but only show the revenues in the Asia-Pacific region.
The share of total sales for the chemical company Covestro was 32.7 percent, for the sporting goods manufacturer Adidas 32.6 percent, for Beiersdorf 31.5 percent and for BASF 26 percent.
Volkswagen sold nine percent less in and to China last year, but the group's overall sales decline was 15 percent.
In the current year, experts expect that China's share of the total turnover of German corporations will probably decrease again - provided that the hoped-for economic upturn in Europe comes after the pandemic subsides.
For the EY analysis, the available business data for the past twelve months of the DAX companies were evaluated.
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