The numbers tell a remarkable story.\u00a0 In 2021, German exported \u20ac207.9 billion of goods to East Asia, breaking the \u20ac200 billion mark for the first time, and imports from the region hit \u20ac260 billion \u2013 increases of 9.7% and 17% respectively.\u00a0 2022 appears set to beat that performance, based on Q1-Q2 data released by Germany\u2019s Federal Statistical Office. German exports were already worth \u20ac111.7 billion during the first six months of this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Considering the profound challenges that the global economy, and international trade in particular, have endured in the last few years, these figures speak of real resilience.\u00a0 Germany\u2019s trade with some other regions may have grown quicker during the first half of 2022 it\u2019s true, but trade with those regions had also suffered far more during the peak pandemic years of 2020 and 2021: their fast growth this year is effectively \u201cmaking up lost ground\u201d.\u00a0 Trade with the Asia-Pacific region, on the other hand, was far more constant \u2013 \u201can anchor of stability\u201d, to use the words of the Federal Statistical Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though Germany\u2019s largest market is Europe, accounting for 65% of exports, East Aisa accounts for about 16% and is the next most important bloc, led, in value terms, by China, South Korea and Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WHERE IS THE GROWTH?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Whereas Germany\u2019s exports to China grew by just 2.9% in Q1-Q2, export growth to the large target markets of Indonesia, Hong Kong and Malaysia, was particularly strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The greatest growth this year is in the area of medicines (up 42.2%) \u2013 much of this is attributable to pharmaceuticals, and to vaccines in particular.\u00a0 Exports of chemical products and electronics also grew well, by 21.5%.\u00a0 Together these sectors accounted for \u20ac61.9 billion of exports in 2021.\u00a0 Exports of cars, car parts and machines are still worth more in total (\u20ac85.8 billion), and continue to grow, but not at the same high rate as the aforementioned sectors, at least in the first half of this year; cars and parts grew at 8.7%, machines at 1.5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SUPPLY FROM \"CHINA + 1\"?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Though German businesses are among those seeking to diversify their supply chains, so that they are not so reliant on China (sometimes by putting new factories in ASEAN countries as part of a so-called \u201cChina + 1\u201d strategy), progress in this regard has been slow, and is not enough to affect the overall balance.\u00a0 In fact, rather than China becoming less dominant among Asia-Pacific suppliers to Germany, if anything the opposite seems to be happening.\u00a0 In the last two years, the proportion of Asia-Pacific goods coming to Germany from China actually increased: from 53% in 2020, to 55% in 2021, to a 57% in 2022 Q1-Q2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n