The impact of decreased exports to the United States and European Union (EU) countries unexpectedly caused Germany’s exports to decline by 2.5 percent in January. The Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis) released the country’s foreign trade figures for January. Accordingly, seasonally and calendar-adjusted exports in the country decreased by 2.5 percent in January compared to the previous month, reaching 129.2 billion euros. The expectation for January export data was that it would increase by 0.5 percent compared to the previous month. The country’s exports to EU member countries decreased by 4.2 percent in January, down to 69.8 billion euros. On the other hand, exports to countries outside the EU, known as third countries, decreased by 0.4 percent to 59.4 billion euros. TRADE SURPLUS SHRANK In January, imports in Germany increased by 1.2 percent, reaching 113.1 billion euros. Thus, Germany’s seasonally and calendar-adjusted foreign trade surplus was around 16 billion euros. The foreign trade surplus was 20.7 billion euros in December 2024 and 25.3 billion euros in January 2024. Compared to January 2024, the country’s exports decreased by 0.1 percent, while imports increased by 8.7 percent. 57 billion euros of Germany’s January imports were from EU countries. Compared to January 2024, imports from EU countries decreased by 1.1 percent. INCREASED IMPORTS FROM TURKEY Additionally, Germany’s exports to its major trading partner, China, decreased by 0.9 percent in January compared to the previous month, reaching 6.7 billion euros. Imports from China also decreased by 2.8 percent to 12.9 billion euros. During the same period, exports to the U.S. decreased by 4.2 percent to 13 billion euros, while imports from the U.S. increased by 6.5 percent to 8 billion euros. The increase in exports to the UK by approximately 18.8 percent in January to 3.6 billion euros was notable. Meanwhile, Germany’s exports to Turkey increased by 7 percent to 2.4 billion euros in January, with imports also rising by 9.6 percent to 2.4 billion euros.