Mittelstand in the crisis: retreat from abroad endangered growth!

Mittelstand in the crisis: retreat from abroad endangered growth!

Österreich, Land - A worrying development is evident in German middle class: Many companies are increasingly withdrawing from foreign business. According to ZVW Warting around 880,000 from a total of 3,8 million medium-sized companies. This number fell to 763,000 in 2023. The proportion of cross -border medium -sized companies fell from 23% to 20%. These values ​​are below the long-term average that was recorded before the Corona crisis.

The reasons for this withdrawal are complex. The KfW chief economist Dirk Schumacher explains that the deteriorated framework conditions for foreign trade play an important role. In particular, geopolitical tensions, such as the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as growing export competition from China burden the exportability of German companies. In addition, many medium -sized companies found the location conditions in Germany to be increasingly difficult.

international sales and business expectations

A special survey by the KfW from January 2025 shows that 21% of medium -sized companies active abroad reported in growing international sales in 2024, while 25% of falling sales recorded. A mixed outlook will be shown for the coming years: 38% of companies expect moderate growth in abroad, while 20% of slightly declining and 8% even expect very declining foreign sales.

The decline in German medium -sized companies active abroad also has an impact on the economic key figures. The total abroad of German middle classes fell slightly to 698 billion euros. On average, the companies that are still active abroad generated 29% of their total sales outside of Germany. This represents an increase of 2% compared to the previous year, although the absolute foreign sales have dropped by 0.4% in total.

important markets and risks

The most important sales markets for German companies in 2023 were Austria, Switzerland, the Benelux countries and France. In view of the geopolitical situation, the German middle class sees itself with new challenges. 16% of medium-sized companies have business relationships with the United States, with 34% fear of negative consequences of current US trade policy. Brexit also led to a decline in exports to Great Britain, while only 1% of companies exported to Russia.

The data is based on the KfW Mittelstandspanel and the special survey on foreign business. As the Onvista , these developments are currently being challenged with which the German medium-sized business is currently confronted. A detailed analysis of the geopolitical challenges and their effects on the German economic model offers the study by ifo .