Germany's trade surplus amounts to $17.2B in July

By Tuba Ongun

Germany's foreign trade surplus came in at €15.9 billion ($17.2 billion) in July, according to official data released on Monday.

The figure was down from €18.7 billion in June 2023 but up from €4.2 billion in July 2022, said the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

Germany's exports dropped 0.9% month-on-month to €130.4 billion in July while its imports rose 1.4% to €114.5 billion.

Compared to same month of last year, exports and imports decreased by 1.0% and 10.2%, respectively.

German exports to non-EU countries fell by 2.5%, mainly due to lower sales to the UK (down 3.5% to €6.3 billion), while its imports from the third countries fell 0.2%.

Most German exports in July went to the US with €13.5 billion, a hike of 5.2% from June. Germany's shipments to China rose by 1.2% to €8.3 billion.

Most imports in July came from China with €13.2 billion, a decrease of 5.8% from the prior month.

Its inbound shipments from the US grew 6.1% to €7.9 billion and that from the UK went down by 3.2% to €3 billion during the same period.

Germany's exports to Russia climbed 2.2% from a month ago to €700 million in July and plunged 31.3% from a year ago.

Imports from Russia totaled €200 million, plunging 15.7% from a month ago and 91.8% from June 2022.