German exports up in April

The German economy increased its exports slightly in April despite the war in Iran. Compared to the previous month of March, exports increased by 0.9%.

Compared to the same month last year, the increase in exports even amounted to 3.6 percent, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Tuesday on the basis of preliminary results. The figures are adjusted for calendar and seasonal effects.

Imports increased by 1.2% compared to the previous month of March. Compared to April 2025, the increase was as much as 6.2%.

While the value of exports in April amounted to 136.6 billion euros, goods worth 122.1 billion euros were imported into Germany. This resulted in an export surplus of 14.5 billion euros after 14.7 billion euros in March.

USA exports up slightly on March

The USA remained Germany's most important foreign trade market in April - exports to the United States were worth 11.4 billion euros. Although this was 1.8% more than in March of this year, compared to April 2025 there was a drop of 12.9%. Exports to the People's Republic of China fell by 3.5% to 5.8 billion euros compared to March.

German companies also delivered less to the United Kingdom, where exports fell by 9.5% to 6.7 billion euros since March. In contrast, exports to the member states of the European Union (EU) rose by 1 percent to 79.1 billion euros compared to March.

The consequences of the Iran war with high energy prices are slowing down the recovery of the German economy. The rise in oil prices is making the transportation of goods more expensive for companies. The economic experts recently lowered their economic forecast for Germany. They now only expect a small growth rate of 0.5 percent.