That's it, I read this article. 9a was hard to find:
In October 2006, Germany posted a record trade surplus, at 17,3 billion euros. Since the beginning of the year, the country has accumulated a surplus of 156 billion euros. On the other hand, France regrets a deficit of 20 billion over the same period. Decryption of this shift.
It's unheard of since reunification. In October, Germany recorded a record trade surplus of 17,3 billion euros, thanks to a further rise in exports (+ 2,6%) and a decline in imports (-0,2%). In total, since the beginning of the year, the balance of the trade balance is 156 billion euros. In comparison, the French foreign trade is pale: in September, the deficit reached 1,3 billion euros, and ... 19,9 billion euros cumulated since January.
Several factors explain the performance recorded on the other side of the Rhine. First, over the past ten years, German companies have made immense efforts to improve their competitiveness, through a mixture of offshoring and reduction of wage costs. Since the fall of the Wall, manufacturers have massively transferred their production to the East. Today, they re-import parts made at low cost in these countries, to assemble them before re-exporting them. Goods "made in Germany" are thus produced in reality 40% abroad, according to the calculations of economist Hans-Werner Sinn, of the Ifo Institute in Munich, who found a name for this phenomenon: " the bazaar economy ". These relocations, as well as the labor market reforms initiated by the previous government, put enormous pressure on the unions: in order not to always see more jobs leaving abroad, they were forced to play the game of controlling salary costs and accepting the abolition of bonuses or increases, or even the return to 40 hours per week without salary compensation.
Other explanations: geographical and sectoral specialization of companies. As we know, the strengths of the German economy are the automobile and machine tools. The latter sector corresponds precisely to the needs of fast-growing emerging countries - the Eastern European countries, and especially China. It is also to the countries outside the European Union that Germany exports the most: its sales have increased by 31,2% over one year, against 17,2% towards the other countries of the EU. All the opposite of France, which, proportionally, trade more with its neighbors ... and especially with Germany. This explains in part the lowest performance in France, German domestic demand being sluggish for several years.
To this must be added three reasons, highlighted by the economists Lionel Fontagné and Patrick Artus, in a report for the Council of Economic Analysis published in March 2006. First, they found that "exporting firms are often larger than non-exporters". However, Germany benefits from a fabric of large SMEs much larger than France, where young companies are struggling to grow. And above all, German firms would offer their foreign customers a more varied and innovative product range than their French counterparts. The latest explanation, according to these experts, is the weakness, already mentioned, of consumption in Germany: companies failing to place their products on their own market, they have been forced to seek new outlets.
http://www.lexpansion.com/art/15.0.151768.0.html