Glossary

Economic importance

Contribution to Export 1

Latest Update: September 2024

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Germany is characterised by a strongly export-oriented and diversified economic structure. In 2022 (2023), Germany exported goods worth a total of around €1.59 trillion (€1.58 trillion)2. Products of the extractive industries accounted for some €11.4 billion of this amount (€5.2 billion), equivalent 0.72% (0.33%) of total exports. At around €9.0 billion (€2.9 billion), crude oil and natural gas accounted for the largest share of exports.

Data on the exported goods of the extractive industries also include previously imported goods, so-called re-exports (cf. “The extractive companies in Germany”). Domestically-extracted natural gas is almost completely consumed in Germany. The “Crude oil and natural gas” sector is followed by “Quarried natural resources, other mining products” with approx. €1.7 billion (€1.6 billion). Exports also included ores worth approx. €0.4 billion (€0.3 billion) and coals valued at about €0.4 billion (€0.4 billion). Here too, the figures include re-exports.3

Exports of the ‘Mining and Quarrying’ sector 2022 (2023)


Raw materials Exports in millions of tonnes Value in millions of euros
Crude oil 0,01 (0,002) 5,4 (1,2)
Natural gas 10,5 (7,5) 8.977,8 (3.574,8)
Hard coal 1,0 (0,8) 271,0 (231,5)
Lignite 0,8 (0,7) 95,4 (135,8)
Iron ores 1,5 (1,1) 258,4 (162,2)
Salt, pure sodium chloride (without table salt) 3,7 (3,5) 259,4 (296,9)
Natural sands of all kinds 9,1 (7,3) 144,9 (155,0)
Quartz, quartzite 0,6 (0,7) 11,2 (30,2)
Kaolin and kaolin-containing clay and loam 1,0 (0,7) 74,7 (73,5)
Granite, porphyry, basalt, sandstone 0,2 (0,1) 12,5 (11,7)
Field stones, gravel, crushed stones 10,6 (10,0) 211,6 (229,0)
Dolomite 0,2 (0,2) 13,3 (13,2)
Gypsum stone, anhydrite, gypsum 1,8 (1,5) 135,0 (142,8)
Limestone 0,3 (0,2) 5,7 (4,8)

Detailed sources see endnotes. Own representation.

Sources

1The export figures for 2023 are provisional data.

2 Destatis (2024) Statistics “External trade”, table code 51000-001 “Export and import (external trade): Germany, years”. URL: https://www-genesis.destatis.de/genesis/online?operation=statistic&levelindex=0&levelid=1712326275847&code=51000#abreadcrumb (accessed 5 April 2024).

3 For detailed source information see endnotes.