Imports from the People’s Republic of China to Germany have almost tripled in the period from the year 2000 to the year 2007, as was reported by the Federal Statistical Office. In 2007, imports amounted to 54.6 billion Euros. This means that China is the third most important importing to Germany country. In the year 2000 imports reached only 18.6 billion Euros which placed China in position 10 among the ten most important importing countries to Germany.
Most popular among Chinese imports are office devices and data processing equipment (18.6%) as well as radio, TV-sets and electronic components which account for 12.6% of imported goods. Furniture, jewellery, toys and clothes, on the other hand, have slightly lost in importance. The Chinese shooting star is motor vehicles. In monetary terms, their volume increased from 80.9 million Euros in the year 2000 to 455.5 in the year 2007. However, this amount accounts for just 0.6% of the total amount of all vehicles imported to Germany.
That Chinese products become more and more important not only in Germany, but worldwide is underlined by the fact that in 2007 China took the second rank among the world’s most important exporting countries from the United States. Thus, according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), in 2007 China exported goods to a value of 1.22 billion US dollars which placed it behind Germany (1.33 billion US dollars), but ahead of the United States (1.16 billion US dollars). 