idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
In 2023, around 97% of all exporters in Germany were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). At €277 billion, their export turnover this year was slightly lower than in 2022 (€290 billion). In contrast, imports of goods by SMEs continued to rise.
Among the 267,000 companies in Germany that exported goods in 2023, 258,000 were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Their exports generated a turnover of € 277 billion – around € 13 billion less than in 2022. Approximately 62.9 % of all SME goods exports were destined for the EU.
Micro enterprises (with fewer than 10 employees) and small and medium-sized enterprises exported significantly more goods to the EU single market than to non-EU countries, as indicated by their respective export ratios. In contrast, large companies exported to both regions in roughly equal measure.
The import participation of SMEs is increasing
98.4% of all goods importers (851,000) were SMEs. Their number has been increasing for years. However, the value of imports in 2023 (€ 334 billion) declined compared to the previous year (€ 380 billion, both nominally). As with exports, the EU single market also dominated imports in terms of import value, accounting for 69.8% of the total. This applies across all company size categories. Additionally, it is noteworthy that medium-sized and large companies import approximately the same amount of goods based on the import quota.
The researchers at IfM Bonn analyse data from Eurostat's "International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)" statistics as the basis for their SME statistics on international activities since 2025. The detailed data is available on the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung website (www.ifm-bonn.org).
https://www.ifm-bonn.org/en/statistics/mittelstand-themes/auslandsaktivitaeten
Criteria of this press release:
Business and commerce, Journalists, Scientists and scholars, Students, Teachers and pupils, all interested persons
Economics / business administration
transregional, national
Research results
English
You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.
You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).
Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.
You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).
If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).
