Hamburg's foreign trade on success course and going strong

Exports to Asia overtook those to Europe from 2003 to 2023. The share of goods exported from Hamburg to other European countries has fallen significantly from the over 70 per cent mark, where it had remained for a long time. In 2010, the share of exports to Asia exceeded the 20 per cent in the early noughties. Later, exports to Asia hovered at 30 per cent from 2016 to 2021. Exports to China surged in 2023, with the value of exported goods reaching EUR 3.9 billion compared to under EUR 600 million in 2003. Exports to the United States (+165 per cent) and Japan (+196 per cent) also increased significantly. However, exports to France fell by 54 per cent. The main exports in 2003 were aircraft, petroleum products, medical equipment as well as vegetable oils and fats. In that same year, aircraft and petroleum products were among the top five exports, followed by industrial gold, vessels and chemical products.

In 2023, goods worth EUR 74.2 billion were imported via Hamburg and accounted for a rise of 94 per cent over the EUR 38.2 billion in 2003. In that same year, imports consisted mainly of aircraft and ships, crude oil and natural gas, radio and television equipment and petroleum products. Twenty-three years later, copper ores and office equipment for data processing were among the top five imported goods. In 2018, more than 50 per cent of imports came from Europe, but has now fallen to 40 per cent in view of rising imports from Asia especially China (up 116 per cent) and the U.S. (up 149 per cent). Imports from the Netherlands also increased (up 225 per cent), while imports from Japan and France decreased by 33 and 32 per cent respectively. 

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