The trade surplus in Germany increased to €9.7 billion in December of 2022 from €6.3 billion a year earlier. Exports climbed 5.9% year-on-year to €123.9 billion, while imports rose at a slower 3.2% to €114.2 billion. However, for the whole of 2022, the trade surplus narrowed to €79.7 billion from €175.3 billion in 2021, the smallest since 2000. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the German trade surplus shrank to €10.0 billion from an upwardly revised €10.9 billion in November, as exports fell 6.3% from a month earlier to a nine-month low of €127.4 and imports dropped at a softer 6.1% to a ten-month low of €117.4 billion. Sales declined by 4.0% to the EU and by 9.1% to countries outside the EU, namely the US (-10.0%), China (-14.2%), the UK (- 24.3%), and Russia (-16.7%). Imports from the EU decreased by 4.8% and from non-EU countries – by 7.4%, namely from the US (-7.3%), China (-14.0%), and the UK (-6.6%). On the contrary, they edged up from Russia (0.1%).