Poland has become more important than China as a buyer for German companies' exports. In the first half of this year, goods – mainly cars, machinery and chemicals – with a total value of 48.4 billion euros went from Germany to its eastern neighbour, data from the Eastern Committee of the German Economy show.

According to Reuters, exports to the People's Republic fell by 3% to 48.2 billion euros. This means that Poland has moved up to fourth place among the most important markets for the German export industry, while China has slipped to fifth place. The number one destination remains the world's largest economy, the USA, followed by France and the Netherlands.

This fits in with the fact that the Asian share of the total sales of DAX companies has been visibly shrinking for some time now – in favour of Europe and the USA. According to EY, Europe's share of the total sales of DAX companies climbed to 47% in the second quarter, while Asia's share shrank to 17%.

But that doesn't mean that German companies are producing less in Asia. Although Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned companies not to put all their eggs in one basket with regard to China, companies have increased their investment in the People's Republic. At 7.3 billion euros, German direct investments in China in 2024 were already higher by mid year than for the entire previous year.

Car manufacturers like VW follow the maxim of manufacturing „in China for China“. Equally, there is manufacturing „in Europe for Europe“. That's why many German companies export more to Poland than to China, even though the People's Republic is a much larger economy.

This could give the new EU Commission the desire to push ahead with the expansion of the EU to the east and southeast with the nine candidate countries – including Albania, Bosnia and Ukraine. The Eastern Committee chairwoman Cathrina Claas-Mühlhäuser even calls the expansion of the EU internal market „a European economic stimulus program that is self-financing“.