Sports and outdoor gear retailers in Germany have enjoyed a decade-long boom in business, according to official data.
Sales in sports and camping stores increased by 41.5% from 2013 to 2023, even after adjusting for inflation, a report from Germany's Federal Statistical Office said on Wednesday.
That significantly outpaced sales growth for the physical retail sector as a whole, where sales grew by 9.1% over the same period.
Almost half of the sports equipment imported into Germany last year came from China, followed at a considerable distance by the Czech Republic (5.5%) and the Unite States (4.8%).
The total value of imports was just under €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion), in a figure not adjusted for inflation. At the same time, Germany exported sports equipment worth just under €1.2 billion, with the biggest markets being Austria (12.8%), France (11.1%) and Switzerland (9.6%).