Export slump of historic proportions

Closed borders, trade and travel restrictions and falling demand are slowing German exports. According to the economy, the unprecedented decline in March is just the beginning.

Wiesbaden (dpa) - Germany's exporters felt the start of the corona crisis in March with full force. Exports fell 11.8 percent compared to the previous month to an unprecedented extent, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Friday in Wiesbaden.

"The corona crisis is starting to leave unprecedented traces in foreign trade," said Holger Bingmann, president of the BGA foreign trade association. The Foreign Trade Association and the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) anticipate even stronger declines in the coming months.

The value of exports in March fell 7.9 percent year-on-year to EUR 108.9 billion. Compared to February 2020, the statisticians recorded a decrease of 11.8 percent - it was the sharpest decline since the start of the time series in August 1990. Imports decreased by 4.5 percent to 91.6 billion euros within a year. They shrank by 5.1 percent compared to the previous month.

According to the DIHK, this is "only the gallop for even stronger cuts in the German export balance." DIHK foreign trade chief Volker Treier explained: "Global demand for goods and services is falling, investments are being cut and barriers to trade are increasing. We are slipping into a global economic crisis." The DIHK expects exports to decline by at least 15 percent this year.

BGA President Bingmann expects double-digit declines in the coming months. "The consequences of the lockdown of 50 percent of global economic output, the closing of borders, particularly in the European single market, the worldwide imposition of trade and travel restrictions and massive disruptions in sea and air freight are only just beginning to leave their mark on the statistics."

The World Trade Organization (WTO) recently expected a drop in world trade as a result of the Corona crisis of up to 32 percent.

The restrictions associated with the spread of the pandemic in March left particularly clear signs of a brake in Europe. Exports to the member states of the European Union (EU) fell 11.0 percent year-on-year to EUR 55.6 billion. Imports decreased by 8.0 percent to 48.7 billion euros. The EU is the most important sales region for goods "Made in Germany".

The decline in trade with countries outside the EU was smaller (minus 4.3 percent). However, exports to China fell by 9.5 percent. The second largest economy in the world, where the new virus first broke out, is one of the most important individual markets for German exports.

The slump in March slowed overall foreign trade in the first quarter. Exports fell by 3.3 percent year-on-year to EUR 324.9 billion. Imports decreased by 2.9 percent to EUR 273.1 billion.

The data ends a week with bad news from the German economy. Manufacturing and industrial orders also collapsed in March. Economic experts assume that the German economy shrank by around 2.5 percent in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter.

The Federal Statistical Office will release an initial estimate for the development of gross domestic product next Friday. In the euro area, the Corona crisis triggered the strongest economic slump ever measured in the first quarter, according to preliminary Eurostat data, which did not include Germany, among other things. Economic output therefore fell by 3.8 percent in a quarterly comparison. This was the sharpest drop since the surveys started in 1995.