German exports fell 6% in the month of August according to data Thursday from Destatis, the federal statistics office. Destatis said a factor in the fall was that in many Länder (federal states) school summer holidays were quite late this year.
Germany exported goods to the value of €84.1bn and imported goods to the value of €70.0bn in August 2014. Meanwhile year-on-year, exports decreased by 1.0% and imports by 2.4%.
After calendar and seasonal adjustment, exports declined by 5.8% and imports by 1.3% compared with July 2014.
The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of €14.1bn in August 2014. In August 2013, the surplus amounted to +€13.3bn. In calendar and seasonally adjusted terms, the foreign trade balance recorded a surplus of €17.5bn in August 2014.
According to the Deutsche Bundesbank, the central bank, the current account of the balance of payments showed a surplus of €10.3bn in August 2014, which takes into account the balances of trade in goods including supplementary trade items (+€14.5bn), services (–€7.6bn), primary income (+€6.0bn) and secondary income (–€2.5bn). In August 2013, the German current account showed a surplus of €7.9bn.
In August 2014, Germany dispatched goods to the value of €47.7bn to the member countries of the European Union (EU), while it received goods to the value of €44.3bn from those countries. Compared with August 2013, dispatches to the EU countries increased by 2.0%, while arrivals from those countries remained nearly unchanged.
Goods to the value of €29.2bn (+0.4%) were shipped to the Eurozone countries in August 2014, while the value of the goods received from those countries was €30.5bn (+0.7%). In August 2014, goods to the value of €18.5bn (+4.5%) were dispatched to EU countries not belonging to the Eurozone while the value of the goods which arrived from those countries was €13.7bn (–1.3%).
Exports of goods to countries outside the European Union (third countries) amounted to €36.4bn in August 2014, while imports from those countries totalled €25.7bn. Compared with August 2013, exports to third countries decreased by 4.7% and imports from those countries by 6.3%.
The Eurozone imports are exaggerated by transhipments through the Dutch port of Rotterdam that are initially classified as of Dutch origin but are later reclassified as originating in ex-EU 28 countries.
