ZVEI foreign trade report November 2025

 

After their slight decline in August, exports of the German electro and digital industry managed to grow once again in September 2025. With €22.2  bn, they strongly exceeded their pre-year value by 9.6%.

In the full first three quarters of this year the sector has aggregated deliveries abroad summed up to €190.5 bn, leaving them 3.4% higher than in the same period the year before. Imports of electrical and electronic products to Germany performed evenly in September. They were up by 9.2% (year-on-year rate), reaching a value of €23.8 bn. From January through September of this year imports grew more dynamically than exports, namely by 7.3% to €201.7 bn. Thus, the sector-specific trade deficit came to €11.2 bn in the first nine months and, therewith, quotes already higher than in the complete last year of 2024 (€9.5 bn).

Exports to industrialised countries

In September 2025, the German electro and digital industry exported goods worth €14.2 bn to the industrialised countries – a plus of 9.8% compared to a year earlier. Particularly, exports to Denmark (+44.8% to €33 4m), Taiwan (+42.9% to €269 m) and Spain (+29.9% to €934 m) soared. Double-digit growth was also achieved in businesses with a number of other countries, including Italy (+18.0% to €1.1 bn), the Czech Republic (+16.5% to €1.0 bn), France (+15.7% to €1.4 bn), Japan (+15.5% to €277m), Belgium (+14.6% to €516 m), the Netherlands (+13.5% to €1.3 bn), UK (+12.0% to €850 m) and Switzerland (+10.4% to €747 m). Deliveries to Austria (+8.5% to €913 m) and South Korea (+3.6% to €292 m) were on the rise, too. In contrast, exports to the USA (-8.4% to €1.9 bn) and Sweden (-18.8% to €443 m) both declined. Taking the first three quarters of this year together, electro exports to the industrialised countries came to €124.2 bn (+5.0% year-on-year).

Exports to emerging markets

German electro exports to the group of emerging markets picked up markedly as well in September 2025. They rose by 9.2% (year over year) to €8.0 bn. Here, the deliveries to Poland (+28.4% to €1.3 bn), Romania (+11.4% to €522 m) and Thailand (+11.2% to €112 m) showed double-digit growth. Exports to Mexico (+9.2% to €301 m), South Africa (+8.1% to €151 m), India (+7.1% to €281m), Türkiye (+4.2% to €356 m), Hungary (+2.8% to €744 m) and Malaysia (+1.3% to €210 m) came in higher, too.

Importantly the sectors deliveries to China saw their first increase in a year in September, growing by 5.0% (year-on year rate) to €2.1 bn. In contrast, exports to Brazil fell by 4.0% to €155m. Accumulated from January through September of this year, the electro exports to the emerging countries amounted to €66.3 bn, surpassing their respective pre-year value by not more than 0.5%.

Caption: Change in per cent compared to the previous year, data by Destatis and ZVEI’s own calculations (image: ZVEI).

Source. ZVEI
www.zvei.org/en