Trade

The end of Europe’s division into two political blocs, and the north- and eastward expansion of the European Union, have both strengthened Hamburg’s position as the leading foreign trade hub in the northeastern part of Europe. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, the Baltic region has become a particularly powerful and dynamic economic region, and represents an attractive, high-purchasing-power market comprising ten countries with more than 50 million inhabitants. Foreign trade has reached a volume of more than one thousand billion euros. Hamburg’s role for trade and transport within the Baltic region is a significant one, and even vital to relations between the Baltic nations and the rest of the world.

More than 32,000 trading companies and over 125,000 employees in the sector make Hamburg the most important centre of trade in Germany. Hamburg is not only a major foreign trade location, but equally popular with wholesalers and retailers. Some 22,000 companies are engaged in the retail business, roughly 9,000 in wholesale and foreign trade, and more than 4,100 operate as trade agencies. Approximately 600 mail order firms are based in Hamburg and more are expected to follow. Many international trading companies have their headquarters in Hamburg.

The trade sector also creates considerable demand for industry-related services, particularly for banks and insurers.

Wholesale and Retail

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(HWF)

Domestic wholesale commerce constitutes an important part of Hamburg’s trade. There are roughly 1,200 wholesale trading companies with ten or more employees. With a total workforce of just under 50,000, this sector accounts for approximately 10% of Germany’s wholesale trade volume. At the same time, ancillary services such as warehousing, distribution, quality assurance and maintenance are showing steady growth.

Hamburg, too, is feeling the increasing competitive pressure on the wholesale trade sector. The internet allows producers and customers to interact directly. Only if wholesalers succeed in combining e-commerce and the Internet with enhanced services and specific professional competence will they be able to counteract this trend. Hamburg’s wholesale traders have risen to the challenge: They are using the Internet to streamline and rationalize internal processes and to optimize customer service.

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Neuer Wall in Hamburg/ Neuer Wall shopping mall in Hamburg 

(Mediaserver HMG)

Hamburg is one of the most attractive places in Northern Europe for shoppers and shopkeepers. The city’s catchment area stretches all the way to Scandinavia and Poland. Some of the shopping zones, Jungfernstieg, Mönckebergstraße, Neuer Wall and Spitaler Straße, are names well known even beyond Germany’s borders. Hamburg is also famed for its malls, where visitors can escape Hamburg’s notoriously “filthy winter weather”. Located in downtown Hamburg, the Europa Passage provides a total sales floor area of 35,000 sqm and is one of the most ambitious retail and shopping mall projects in Northern Europe. Purchasing power in Hamburg is well above the national average (index value 2010: 110.2) and the highest of any German federal state.

Despite this, the pervading economic problems have not been without effect on Hamburg's retail trade. Owner-managed speciality stores and even department stores are seeing sales plummet, whilst turnover is climbing at the big chains, superstores, and specialized discount stores with their aggressive price policies.

Mail order businesses constitute an especially significant sector in Hamburg. This is mainly due to the fact that Otto, a Group of 90 companies operating in 23 countries, is headquartered in the city. A growing number of small e-commerce providers are coming to the fore to augment the distribution channels of the stationary, location-dependent retail business.

Hamburg's wholesale and retail statistics

Foreign Trade

"Where there’s trade, someone from Hamburg will have already been there" – hardly any other description more fittingly sums up the diversity and long history of Hamburg’s foreign trade relations.

Since the founding of the city in the year 810, Hamburg’s economy has been built on the twin pillars of import and export. Today about 5,000 companies are involved in foreign trade, including some 2,500 engaged in the traditional business of import/export. Related work is done by export or trade agents, CIF agents and brokers. If one includes the companies providing services to an international clientele – namely, banks, insurance companies, transportation firms or consultants – the number of Hamburg-based companies with foreign business connections rises to 20,000.

Most of the foreign trade companies are small or medium-sized. But there are also giants with a sales volume of several billion euros. Apart from conducting foreign trade under their own name and by their own account, foreign trade companies now offer a wide range of related services: from market analysis to financing, logistical processes, professional order picking and distribution, up to and including assuming the risks of currency exchange swings and warranty obligations.  

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Container China Shipping

(Mediaserver HMG)

Hamburg has traditionally been known as a centre for overseas trade. The countries of Eastern Asia are among the major trading partners. In terms of volume, however, Hamburg plays a bigger role in inter-European trade. About 50% of traded goods are bound to or from other countries in the European Union - a proportion that is set to grow with the eastern expansion of the EU. Likewise, there is a significant amount of trade with North America. 

Hamburg's foreign trade statistic