The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 18.8 billion euros in March 2013. In March 2012, the surplus had amounted to 17.4 billion euros. In calendar and seasonally adjusted terms, the foreign trade balance recorded a surplus of 17.6 billion euros in March 2013.
In March 2013, Germany dispatched commodities totalling € 53.8 billion to the Member States of the European Union, while it received commodities worth € 50.4 billion from those countries. Compared with March 2012, dispatches to the EU countries decreased by 5.4 percent and arrivals from those countries by 3.7 percent.
A total of € 35.3 billion in goods (-7.0 percent) was dispatched to Euro area countries in March 2013, while the value of the commodities received from those countries was € 35.5 billion (-4.6 percent). In March 2013, commodities valued in € 18.5 billion (-2.2 percent) were dispatched to EU countries not belonging to the Euro area, while the value of the commodities which arrived from those countries was 15.0 billion euros (-1.5 percent).
Exports of commodities to countries outside the European Union amounted to € 40.8 billion in March 2013, while imports from those countries totalled € 25.3 billion. Compared with March 2012, exports to third countries decreased by 2.6 percent and imports from those countries by 12.8 percent.