The German electrical and digital industry increased its exports in May 2022 by 11.9% year-on-year to €19.1 billion, according to the ZVEI. Dr. Andreas Gontermann, Chief Economist of the association: "As the foreign trade data are nominal figures, part of the increase is likely due to the current inflation environment."
In the first five months of this year as a whole, aggregated electrical exports amounted to €95.2 billion, exceeding the previous year's figure by 5.8%. Imports of electrical and electronic products to Germany increased almost twice as much as exports in May. They increased by 21.2% year-on-year to € 19.6 billion. From January to May, imports totaled € 100.1 billion, up 14.3% on the previous year. The foreign trade balance for electrical goods was accordingly in deficit in the first five months.
Industry deliveries to the eurozone increased by 8.8% year-on-year to €5.9 billion in May 2022. Business with 14 of the 18 eurozone trading partners increased in May; the declines only affected smaller countries. Industry deliveries to Austria rose by 2.5% (compared to the previous year) to € 801 million in May. Exports to Italy increased by 5.9% to € 914 million and those to Spain by 8.6% to € 611 million. Double-digit growth rates were achieved in business with both Belgium (+ 10.2% to € 401 million) and France (+ 13.3% to € 1.2 billion). In the overall period from January to May of this year, German electrical and electronic exports to the eurozone amounted to € 30.9 billion. This was 4.4% higher than the corresponding figure for the previous year.
Domestic electrical exports to countries outside the eurozone rose by 13.4% year-on-year to €13.2 billion in May 2022. Single-digit growth was recorded in electrical exports to the Czech Republic (+ 1.7% to € 839 million), Poland (+ 8.9% to € 1.0 billion) and China (+ 9.2% to € 2.2 billion). While business with the UK (+ 10.7% to € 726 million) saw slight double-digit growth, exports to South Korea (+ 28.1% to € 296 million), the USA (+ 34.6% to € 2.0 billion) and Japan (+ 45.2% to € 277 million) really took off. Deliveries to Russia and Ukraine continued to slump in May. Gontermann: "The former fell by two thirds to € 107 million and the latter by more than a third to € 27 million." Accumulated deliveries to third countries from January to May 2022 amounted to €64.3 billion - an increase of 6.5% compared to the previous year.
