Germany's Secret Economic Weapon: a Vast Export Network
Behind the Scenes, Support System for Foreign Sales Helps to Boost Contentious Trade Surplus
By DANIEL MICHAELS and
BRIAN BLACKSTONE
Behind Germany's export success is an outsize global sales-promotion network that is helping to boost a trade surplus that has become a source of friction with its European and U.S. allies.
Behind the Scenes, Support System for Foreign Sales Helps to Boost Contentious Trade Surplus
By DANIEL MICHAELS and
BRIAN BLACKSTONE
Behind Germany's export success is an outsize global sales-promotion network that is helping to boost a trade surplus that has become a source of friction with its European and U.S. allies.
The
country's already large surplus in trade and investment income rose by
almost 18% in September compared with a year earlier—as new data showed
the balances posted by other euro-zone countries weakened slightly.
The European Central Bank said Monday that the current-account surplus of the 17-country euro zone grew less than 4% to €13.7 billion ($18.5 billion) in September—which was less than Germany's surplus alone of €20 billion. The current account is the broadest measure of trade and investment income.
The European Central Bank said Monday that the current-account surplus of the 17-country euro zone grew less than 4% to €13.7 billion ($18.5 billion) in September—which was less than Germany's surplus alone of €20 billion. The current account is the broadest measure of trade and investment income.
Such
figures have put Germany on the spot for boosting its economy through
foreign sales rather than domestic consumption. The U.S. Treasury last
month said Germany's export-focused approach, without a similar effort
to lift domestic demand, hampered Europe's recovery from its financial
crisis, which in turn dragged on the world economy. The EU last week
announced it would assess whether Germany's trade balance has breached
economic targets for the 28-country bloc.
Yet there is one, sometimes underestimated, reason for Germany's export success: a low-profile but sophisticated global network of representatives built over decades to establish an export footprint for even the smallest German companies.
Yet there is one, sometimes underestimated, reason for Germany's export success: a low-profile but sophisticated global network of representatives built over decades to establish an export footprint for even the smallest German companies.
The
German Chambers of Commerce Abroad has 120 offices in 80 countries,
with more than 1,700 staff to promote German commercial interests.
"I
don't think it's Germany's fault" that the country runs an export
surplus, said Emma Marcegaglia, an Italian entrepreneur and president of
Business Europe, a 35-country lobbying group. "The real difference is
their system."
The
system links the overseas commercial chambers to 80 regional chambers
around Germany and relies on funds from both companies and the
government. Entrepreneurs say this breadth and integration make a
particularly big difference for Germany's hundreds of thousands of small
and midsize companies, many of them family-owned, known as the
Mittelstand.
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