Everyone knows that the basis of the strength and power of absolutely any modern state is its economy developed in all respects. Each country has different indicators of internal and external trade, but it is easy to guess that the more a power sells its products abroad, the richer it becomes. This article will look at the exports and imports of Germany - one of the pillars of the current European Union, which is also among the strongest countries in the world.
Overall leader
The German economy is rightfully considered the largest on the European continent. Despite the fact that industry in Germany is very well developed, this state is still post-industrial, since up to 78% of its economy is various services, and the rest is agribusiness and the production of all existing types of goods.
It is important to note the fact that Germany adheres to a policy of hospitality in relation to foreign direct investment. The German market is completely open to investors in almost all industry segments. Commercial activity is characterized by a high degree of freedom, transparency and democracy. In Germany, a universal concept has been approved at the legislative level,due to which there is no significant difference between foreign and local entrepreneurs in terms of investing capital and creating new firms or companies.
Features
Germany's exports are based on the supply to other countries of a variety of specialized equipment, machinery, vehicles, chemical products, medicines, aircraft and helicopters. As far as metallurgy is concerned, the leading German concerns have long ago moved away from the concept of steel production and focused on the production of pipes, equipment and other products. Today ferrous metallurgy is not considered the leading industrial sector of the country and is based on raw materials imported from abroad. The same can be said about non-ferrous metallurgy.
Automotive giants
In many ways, Germany's exports are numerous deliveries of cars from such giants as Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, Porsche and others to their partners. Every year, each of these manufacturers sells about 6 million cars and about 4 million more are produced in foreign branches. The Volkswagen concern deserves special attention, since it owns almost 12% of the production of all cars on the planet.
Record period
In July 2015, German exports showed their highest value in numerical terms for the entire observation period, which started back in 1991. These data were announced by the Federal Statistical Office of the country. So, in particular, at that time the exportamounted to 103.4 billion euros, and imports - 80.6 billion. Both indicators then exceeded even the wildest expectations of economists. And this despite the fact that the supply of German goods to China decreased against the backdrop of a slowdown in the economic development of a large Asian power, which, in turn, occupies the fourth position in the ranking of Germany's foreign trade partners.
One more point deserves special attention: in 2015, the export of various types of weapons in Germany grew by almost one and a half times. In monetary terms, this figure amounted to almost 7.86 billion euros, and it was a record for the German military-industrial segment of the economy in this century.
As for the results of 2015, Germany, whose export of goods increased by 6.4% compared to 2014, earned 1 trillion 195.8 billion euros. At the same time, the country's imports also reached a record, which amounted to 948 billion euros. That is, 2015 turned out to be very successful for the German state in economic terms, because the country's surplus amounted to 247.8 billion euros (increased by 16%).
First half of 2016
According to the results of June 2016, German exports slightly yielded to imports. According to statistics, the supply of goods to the country exceeded the sale of products abroad by 0.7%. The trade balance was at the level of 21.7 billion euros. At the same time, German production volumes in May, unexpectedly for many specialists, decreased, which is associated with strong economic growth at the beginning of the year.
Partners
The main long-term and mutually beneficial trade relations between Germany and France, the United States of America, Japan, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, China. Almost 25% of all German industrial products are produced by powerful enterprises that involve foreign capital. In addition, the state is heavily dependent on imports of raw materials and semi-finished products.
It is noteworthy: the results of 2015 showed that the Germans exported the largest number of goods to the United States. The amount of exports overseas amounted to 113.9 billion euros.
Relations with the Russian Federation
Exports to Germany from Russia last year amounted to only 29.7 billion euros. In the opposite direction, slightly less products were delivered - in the amount of 21.7 billion.
If you look a little deeper into Russian-German trade relations, you can see that for the whole of 2014, goods worth 36.8 billion US dollars were shipped from the Russian Federation to Germany. Russian exports to the German state are represented by the following categories:
- Mineral fuels (petroleum and its products, wax, bitumen) – 82.3%.
- Nuclear reactors, equipment, boilers and other mechanical devices – 4.7%.
- Copper and products based on it – 2.9%.
- Electrical equipment, sound equipment, television equipment - 2.2%.
- Ferrous metals – 1.8%.
- Precious metals, coins, bijouterie, pearls –0.9%.
- Wood products - 0.8%.
- Aluminum - 0.5%.
- Agricultural fertilizers - 0.5%.
- Paper products (cardboard, etc.) - 0.3%.
- Rubber and rubber products - 0.3%.
Conclusion
The structure of Germany's exports has been formed for quite a long period. At the same time, the level of the country's income was different and largely depended on the degree of employment of the population, which is now also high. The Federal Republic of Germany is distinguished by a large number of billionaires, of which there are 123, of which 22 are female representatives.
