To Germany foreign commerce is of vital importance because being very limited gener ally in the productive power of her soil she is completely deficient in products of the sub tropical and the tropical zone and very re stricted in the products of the warm temperate zone.
Principal Articles of Export and Import— In weight the imports of 1913 amounted to 74,600,000 metric tons, the exports to 75,400,000 metric tons, the value of the imports $2,700,000,000 And that of the exports $2,500, 000,000. In the following table the main groups of the imports and exports are given according to the official German statistics.
of iron ores (10,000,000 metric tons out 42,000,000), 82 per cent of copper (196,000 metric tons out of 241,000), 19 per cent of lead, (45,000 metric tons out of 232,000), while• the The list below shows only those kinds of merchandise where there is a substantial sur plus (of at least $25,000,000) on the import or on the export side and only the excess of imports over exports or of exports over im ports. The exports of industrial metals other than copper and iron, viz., lead, zinc and tin, being so large as not to leave a considerable excess in the imports the figures have been dropped. Because only differences are given the tables comprise a much larger part of Germany's foreign commerce than the figures themselves seem to indicate. Thus a true pic ture will be given as to what Germany really needs and what she is really able to sell.
The textile industries are the most depend ent on foreign production, the net imports of cotton, wool and raw silk accounting $288,000,000. Of grain, including bran and rice, imports exceeded exports to the extent of $222,000,000. Imported barley (to the amount of 3,100,000 metric tons) constituted 50 cent, imported wheat (to the net amount of 2,000,000' metric tons) 35 per cent of the total amount available for consumption (that is, de ducting the amount of the home production necessary for seed), while in rye there was a not inconsiderable (500,000 metric tons) and in oats a smaller surplus (200,000 metric tons) of exports. Rice and maize are not produced in Gerniany. The net imports in fats and oils and in materials for fat and oil production of animal and vegetable origin amounted to $204,000,000, which figure is not far behind the amount of net imports in breadstnffs. Coffee,
cacao and tea together accounted for $69,000,000 in the net imports. The net imports of cotton amounted to 486,000 metric tons, about 16 pounds per head of population, those of wool to 183,000 metric tons, about six pounds per head of population (besides a large home pro duction), and of coffee to 164,000 metric tons, about 5.4 pounds per head of population. In mineral products the net imports constituted in 1912 24 per cent of the total consumption net exports of coal (coke and lignite) amounted to 5 per cent of the total production (14,000,000 metric tons out of 256,000,000), and of zinc 18 per cent of the total production (48,000 metric tons out of 269,000). A large amount of materials imported is exported in a man ufactured form, especially in the leather and silk industries. With manufactures even if classified under the same statistical item, im ported goods are generally not the same as exported ones. Especially in the textile trade imports of manufactures are large, those of cotton yarn amounting to $29,000,000, of woolen yarn to $27,000,1)00, of cotton goods to $18,000, 000, and of woolen goods to $11,000,000. The only other large item in the imports of man ufactures are machines to the value of $20, 000,000, of these mowers amounted to $5,600,000, and of metal-working machines to $2,200,000. Books and maps are exported to the value of $18,600,000, pianos and organs to the value of $13,900,000.
Geographic and Political Distribution of Germany's Foreign Commerce.— German sta tistics are not very reliable as to. countries of, origin and destination since a very consider able amount of German foreign trade is car ried on via Great Britain, Holland, and Bel gitim and a smaller amount via France (Mar seilles), Italy (Genoa) and Austria (Trieste). But there is no doubt that the oversea com merce has been increasing faster than the con tinental commerce and the commerce with coun tries of economically colonial character consid erably faster than with the old-settled countries of Western and Southern Europe. But even now the European commerce of Germany is by far the most important especially in exports comprising more than one-half of all imports and three-quarters of all exports.