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Annual Report: No. 3 Germany- Autos drive German trade

June 24th, 2006

Two modes of transportation,cars and planes,shape Georgia’s trade with export-oriented Germany.

If you say "Germany" and "Georgia" in the same breath, you have to follow it with "automobiles." That’s the commodity that shapes the commercial exchange between Georgia and its third most important trade partner.

In 2005, trade between the state and the European nation rose 10.8 percent to total $6.4 billion. That made the Savannah Customs District, which includes ports and airports in Atlanta and Brunswick, the fifth most important trade hub for Germany behind New York, Charleston, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Imports dominated, with Georgia registering $4.5 billion in cargo from Germany, a jump of 6.8 percent compared to 2004. Cars and trucks remained the top import, despite dipping nearly 6 percent from the previous year. Georgia imported $890 million in motor vehicles from Europe’s top auto-making nation. On the export side, parts for large and small aircraft led the cargo headed to Germany.

Munich-based BMW, which has an auto plant in Spartanburg, S.C., brings automotive parts as well as finished vehicles from Europe through the Port of Brunswick, the fourth-largest autoport on the coast. For the past four years, Porsche has also been using Georgia’s ports for its shipments. The traffic in automotive goods has risen as Porsche moved its southeast distribution center to Brunswick.

Twelve other automakers use the 1,700-acre Colonel’s Island auto facility in Brunswick for import and export cargo. Among them are German car companies Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Audi.

In addition to vehicles, auto parts played a role in Georgia-Germany trade. Most were imports destined for BMW’s Spartanburg plant. In 2005, those imports from Germany reached $150 million, a 56 percent jump from the year before. Auto part exports were also on the rise, valuing $96 million in 2005, compared to $82 million in 2004.

The health care sector also benefited from imports. Georgia brought in $232 million in German X-ray machines, some 8 percent more than a year earlier. And pharmaceutical imports rose more than 6 percent to end the year at nearly $175 million.

Germany is Europe’s top pharmaceutical producer and the United States is the world’s biggest buyer of German drugs, accounting for about 20 percent of all purchases.

The effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita were reflected in Georgia-Germany trade numbers. None-crude oil imports through Georgia rose 494 percent to almost $112 million. The U.S. Department of Energy said Germany and 25 other members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) began exporting from their non-crude petroleum reserves in September and October to offset shortfalls caused by the hurricanes. The IEA is an international body that works to avert oil crises around the world.

While vehicles accounted for the bulk of Georgia’s imports from Germany, another transportation sector got a big boost. Regional jet parts rose 48 percent to $345 million.

But aviation proved to be a two-way street. Parts for both regional jets and large planes combined to be the most important export leaving Georgia, worth $441 million. The state exported $306 million alone in parts for large jets, a 73 percent jump from 2004. Jet parts were followed on the export list by nearly $100 million in optical fibers – a 444 percent increase from a year earlier. The paper-making state also sent $98 million in chemical wood pulp to Germany, about a third more than in 2004.

Other major exports in 2005 included medical instruments. Shipments of surgical equipment increased 13 percent to nearly $92 million. Exports of X-ray machines, however, fell nearly 67 percent to close the year at $47.5million.

Exports of computers also fell, by 9 percent, to total just more than $56 million.