German arms exports rose by 23 per cent in 2013, driven by demand for military goods in the Middle East and Asia.
The ministry calculated that the value of export licences for weapons, tanks and other military goods totalled 5.8 billion euros ($A8.70 billion) in 2013, up from 4.7 billion euros a year earlier.
A year earlier, sales had fallen by 13 per cent.
But the export licences are not necessarily the same as the weapons and equipment actually exported, because not all licences are used in the same year that they were awarded, the ministry added.
In 2013, the volume of actual exports - or weapons actually shipped abroad - fell by 1.4 per cent to 933.2 million euros.
The ministry said that EU and NATO countries accounted for 38 per cent of export licences by value in 2013, compared with 45 per cent in 2012.
Other countries accounted for 62 per cent, with a particularly sharp rise for countries such as Algeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
Algeria was the biggest customer for German-made defence equipment, followed by Qatar, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Israel, Britain, South Korea, Singapore and France, the ministry said.
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