German export continues to catch up

German export continues to catch up

In November, German exports grew for the seventh month in a row, despite the second Corona wave with tightened restrictions at many trading partners. The booming China business in particular caused exports to rise by an unexpectedly strong 2.2 percent compared to the previous month, as the Federal Statistical Office announced. Economists polled by Reuters had only expected 0.8 percent, after 0.9 percent in October. Despite the race to catch up, exports remained 4.7 percent below the level of February 2020 - the month before the corona-related restrictions began. For the Corona year 2020 there is a clear decline overall. In the first eleven months of last year, exports fell by 10.3 percent to 1103.9 billion euros compared to the same period last year. The industry association BGA recently expected an export decline of at least twelve percent for the year as a whole. In 2019, Europe's largest economy had exported goods worth more than 1.3 trillion euros. "Apparently, despite the lockdown, the economy got away with less than one black eye in the fourth quarter," said the chief economist of Bankhaus Lampe, Alexander Krüger. "Exports to China in particular are booming," said VP Bank's chief economist Thomas Gitzel, one reason for this. These grew by 14.3 percent in November 2019 to 9.3 billion euros. "China is benefiting from a special corona economy," said Gitzel. The demand for German cars is increasing there, while German mechanical engineers are also in demand with their products. "Once again it is clear that if China is doing well, Germany will benefit," said the economist. The chances are not bad that foreign business will pick up further. The export-dependent industry collected more orders from home and abroad for seven months in a row, with demand from the euro zone increasing particularly significantly recently.