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POLAND OVERTAKES CHINA

AS GERMAN EXPORT MARKET:

THE HOW AND WHY OF

A FALL AND A RISE

Text: Tomasz Dominik - Business Development Manager, Packeta Germany // Photos: Packeta
Germany’s import and export trade balance boasts some notable reconfigurations of late,
with Europe’s East already superseding the key player of the Far
East as a primary market for its goods.

ontrary to the widely propagated image of it is accompanied by
streams of shiny German-built vehicles, from a sizable trade deficit
CVolkswagen to Mercedes-Benz, flooding on Germany’s end,
Chinese ports and pouring forth onto Chinese making it very much a
streets, this powerhouse economic force of close to lopsided affair, to the
one and a halt billion citizens, many part of a new tune of 58.4 billion
middle class with fresh cash at the ready, is no longer euros in 2023. Germany
the go-to German export haven it once was. is, as is the case with
In fact, somewhat surprisingly, it is not even within the top many other countries,
four purchasers of German products. How this has come to highly dependent on, TOMASZ DOMINIK
be, and how the perhaps surprising markets that currently fill perhaps addicted to, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
the upper ranks have moved into the top slots, is as one might low-cost wares from PACKETA GERMANY
expect due to a combination of factors: EU expansion, relaxed the manufacturing
trading regulations, geopolitical shifts, and modernization- colossus—a dependence that, given current shifting sands in
hungry markets. the geopolitical sphere and talk of “de-risking,” may prove
injudicious, if not, in a worst case scenario, calamitous.
China’s fall—or another’s rise?
China’s global standing, often told in terms of top rankings, The foregoing runs contrary to Germany’s overall prestigious
might currently be better reflected in second-spot placings. stature as an upper-hand trading partner. Overall, the nation
An international second to the USA’s solid footing atop boasted a trade surplus of 224 billion euros according to 2023
world economies following the Eastern giant’s astounding statistics, importing close to 1.4 trillion against exports of
rise alongside the turn of the millennium, it has on the some 1.6 trillion. Still, German trade deficits exist elsewhere:
other hand slipped downward to second place in population negative balances with Ireland, Norway, Vietnam and Russia
statistics, with India edging out its 1.4 billion citizens by present the next widest chasms. Although the Statistisches
some 17 million in 2023. With 91 medals to the USA’s 126, Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office) reports an overall
it finished in second place at the recently staged 2024 Paris surplus of 16.8 billion euros for July 2024, this was down
Summer Olympics. In like manner, its position as Germany’s from June’s reading of 20.4 billion, and down as well from the
top trading partner has given way to another second-place projection of 21 billion. There has not been a smaller trade
statistic: after eight years as Germany’s foremost commercial surplus on these shores since December 2022. Germany’s
ally, it has here also settled into second place, one all- imports are growing faster than its exports. Newer pastures,
important position behind the new and returning number fortunately, are opening up, moving markets formerly of
one, the USA. middling standing forward into leading slots.

This fall in the ranking does not jeopardize its position as
an indispensable trade partner, but it should be noted that

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