According to the ZVEI Foreign Trade Report published in April, exports of the German electrical and electronic industry continue their upward trend. In February 2014 they increased by 6.3% (year over year) onto 12.5 billion €. It was the steepest rise since July 2012. From January through February of this year the sector’s exports came to 26.0 billion € and, therefore, exceeded their pre-year level by 4.4%. With it, they have once again performed somewhat better than production and turnover. German imports of electrical and electronic products picked up markedly too in February. With 10.4 billion € they were 6.6% up on their 2013 level. And in the first two months of this year they grew by 6.4% (yoy) onto 23.0 billion €.
E&E exports by regions
With a plus of 6.6% (yoy) onto 8.3 billion € in February 2014 exports to the industrialized countries have once again risen slightly more dynamically than those to the emerging markets (+5.9% onto 4.2 billion €).
Industrialized countries
While exports to the USA (+0.5% to 1.0 billion €) and Japan (-0.2% to 0.2 billion €) more or less stagnated, exports to the euro area (+8.3% to 4.1 billion €) and the UK (+10.4% to 0.7 billion €) increased considerably. Businesses with France, Italy and Spain grew by 6.5%, 5.6% and even 14.0%, respectively. Likewise exports to the Czech Republic (+24.8% to 0.5 billion €) and Slovakia (+33.7% to 0.2 billion €) soared strongly.
Emerging markets
Exports to China rose by vigorous 18.4% (yoy) onto 1.1 billion €. And exports to the Eastern European countries Poland and Hungary picked up by 17.0% (to 0.4 billion €) and 22.2% (to 0.3 billion €), respectively. Against it, the sector’s overall exports to Africa (-4.0% to 0.2 billion €), Middle East (-3.5% to 0.4 billion €) or Malaysia (-3.6% to 0.1 billion €) declined.
Latin American Business
From 2000 through 2013 the German E&E industry’s exports to Latin America have doubled from 2.1 to 4.4 billion €. Brazil and Mexico are the biggest countries of destination in the region. Last year they absorbed exports of 1.6 and 1.4 billion €, respectively. Since 2000 exports to Chile and Peru have evolved particularly dynamically. However, in 2013 exports to Latin America have stagnated. Here, more exports to Mexico (+7%), Chile (+7%) or Peru (+20%) and less exports to Brazil (-4%), Argentina (-2%) or Venezuela (-17%) faced each other. Between January and February 2014 exports to Latin America exceeded their pre-year level by 4.7% (Brazil: -1.1%, Mexico: +4.7%).
