The Role of Global Value Chains for German Manufacturing

Godart and Görg
Table 3: Export- and import-participation in manufacturing 2001 - 2006
Share (in percent) of firms which...
Neither export nor Only export Only import Export and
Reporting year import
import
2001 67% 8% 9% 16%
2002 64% 9% 10% 17%
2003 63% 9% 10% 18%
2004 62% 9% 11% 18%
2005 61% 9% 11% 19%
Source: Own calculations based on Vogel et al. (2009)
Table 4 also displays some information about the trading status of German firms, but
this time disaggregated by two-digit ISIC manufacturing industry. It shows that different
industries face diverse shares of export and import participation of their firms. It ranges
from “Food and Beverage” with the highest share of firms that neither export nor import
(82 percent), to “Rubber”, “Machinery” or “Chemicals” in which the majority of firms
have undertaken some international transactions in 2006. A look back to Table 2 also
shows that the industries with high export and import activity are also those sectors where
the Mittelstand is important.
Table 4: Export and Import participation of German firms by 2-digit
manufacturing industry, 2006
Industry key Share of firms which...
338
Neither
export
nor import
Only export Only import Export
and import
15 Food and Beverage 82% 3% 9% 6%
16 Tobacco 39% X X 41%
17 Textiles 48% 6% 17% 28%
18 Wearing Apparel 51% 4% 19% 25%
19 Leather 50% 5% 21% 24%
20 Wood 70% 7% 13% 10%
21 Paper 38% 10% 11% 41%
22 Publishing and Printing 62% 18% 7% 13%
23 Coke and Petroleum 45% 7% 13% 29%
24 Chemicals 36% 11% 10% 43%
25 Rubber 35% 13% 10% 42%
26 Non-metallic Minerals 57% 6% 24% 14%
27 Basic Metal 52% 10% 10% 43%