ZVEI – German electrical exports still pick up strongly in February
In February 2026, the month before the outbreak of the Iran war, exports from the German electrical and digital industries increased significantly: they rose by 9.2 percent compared to the previous year, reaching a value of 21.3 billion euros.
“This means that, for the first time in a long while, industry exports were again higher in absolute terms than imports of electrical and electronic goods to Germany, which only increased by 5.4 percent to 21.1 billion euros in the same month,” said ZVEI Chief Economist Dr. Andreas Gontermann.
In the first two months of this year, aggregate exports of electrical equipment increased by 6.6 percent to €43.4 billion. Imports rose by 2.9 percent to €44.7 billion during the same period.
“The main driver of the recent strong export growth was once again the common European single market,” said Gontermann.
Exports from the German electrical and digital industries to the EU market increased by a fifth (+19.5%) to €11.4 billion in February 2026.
The growth in business with Poland and Sweden was exceptionally high – up 39.2 percent to €1.2 billion and up 30.4 percent to €461 million, respectively. Exports to Romania (+26.5% to €529 million), Spain (+26.0% to €893 million), Italy (+21.9% to €1.1 billion), and the Czech Republic (+21.8% to €1.0 billion) also increased significantly in February compared to the previous year.
Exports to the Netherlands (+17.8% to €1.3 billion), Hungary (+16.7% to €718 million), Slovakia (+14.9% to €260 million), and Denmark (+13.1% to €392 million) also saw double-digit growth. Deliveries to Portugal (+9.9% to €214 million), France (+9.5% to €1.3 billion), Austria (+7.2% to €869 million), and Belgium (+3.5% to €452 million) were also up in February.
In the first two months of this year, German electrical exports to the EU reached a total value of 24.1 billion euros (+15.1%).
In contrast, industry deliveries to countries outside the EU declined in February 2026: Compared to the previous year, the German electrical and digital industry recorded a slight decrease of 0.6 percent to 9.9 billion euros.
While electrical exports to Turkey (+27.9% to €419 million), Malaysia (+14.7% to €231 million), Switzerland (+13.7% to €736 million), Mexico (+8.6% to €292 million), South Korea (+1.6% to €257 million) and the UK (+0.1% to €842 million) increased, business with Singapore (-3.9% to €155 million), Hong Kong (-14.6% to €157 million), this year’s partner country of the Hannover Messe Brazil (-17.1% to €134 million), the United Arab Emirates (-19.3% to €143 million), Taiwan (-21.9% to €242 million) and Japan (-34.1% to €248 million) declined. to accept, in some cases, significant declines.
“Deliveries to the USA and China again developed in opposite directions in February,” said Gontermann. “While electrical exports to the United States declined again, falling by 11.6 percent to 1.9 billion euros, deliveries to China continued to stabilize and even increased by 3.0 percent to 1.8 billion euros.”
Finally, in the period from January to February 2026, exports from the German electrical and digital industry to third countries declined by a total of 1.7 percent to 19.3 billion euros.
SourceZVEI
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