Exports in the German electrical and digital industry fell by 10.5 percentage points to €20.4 billion in March, reports the ZVEI. This means that the first quarter of 2024 was also negative overall: in the first three months, electrical and electronic products worth €62.3 billion were exported. Exports were therefore 4.3% down on the same period last year.

Imports to Germany were also weaker than exports, according to the industry association. The year-on-year decline in March amounted to 13.9% to 19.6 billion euros. "This year's March was the first month in a year in which exports were higher than imports again," says ZVEI Chief Economist Dr. Andreas Gontermann, assessing the situation.

From January to March of this year, electrical imports totaled 62.4 billion euros, falling 9.7% short of the previous year's level. Accordingly, the foreign trade balance for electrical goods was almost balanced throughout the first quarter. "Exports to eight of the ten largest individual customer countries in the German electrical and digital industry were lower in the first quarter of 2024 than in the previous year. Growth was only reported for deliveries to China and Spain," says Gontermann.

China largest single buyer country

In the first quarter of 2024, China remained the largest single buyer country: electrical goods worth €6.7 billion were exported there, an increase of 7.4% compared to the same period last year. However, exports to the USA, the second largest market, fell by 2.8% to EUR 6.1 billion in March. Third to fifth place in the first quarter went to France (-3.1% to €3.7 billion), the Netherlands (-7.2% to €3.6 billion) and Italy (-11.9% to €2.8 billion), while exports to sixth-placed Poland (-7.9% to €2.7 billion) and the countries behind it also declined. Exports to Austria (-11.7% to 2.5 billion euros), the Czech Republic (-5.7% to 2.4 billion euros) and the United Kingdom (-9.4% to 2.4 billion euros) were also down.) Spain closes out the top 10 countries with an increase of 2.0% to 2.1 billion euros.

The country ranking is also reflected in the analysis by continent or region: compared to the same period of the previous year, exports to Europe fell by 6.0% to EUR 39.1 billion in the first quarter of 2024, while exports to the eurozone fell by 6.3% to EUR 20.9 billion. Industry deliveries to America fell by 4.3% to 8.1 billion euros in the same period. However, the decline in business with countries from North America (-2.9% to €6.5 billion) was less pronounced than in deliveries to partners from Latin America (-9.5% to €1.6 billion).

"The upturn in exports of electrical goods to Asia was noticeable in China, which alone accounts for half of this figure," says Gontermann. "As a result, deliveries to the Asian region increased slightly overall. They totaled €13.6 billion in the first three months of 2024, which corresponds to a slight increase of 0.1%."