German exports grew more strongly in October

Despite material shortages, German exports grew more strongly in October than they have been in over a year. They increased by 4.1 percent compared to the previous month, as the Federal Statistical Office announced. Economists had only expected growth of 0.9 percent. Before that, exports had shrunk by almost one percent for two months in a row. For the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), the results are only positive at first glance. "A large part of the increase is due to increased imported costs for important preliminary products and raw materials that our exporters pass on to their foreign customers," said DIHK foreign trade director Volker Treier. The recent drop in industrial orders from overseas also indicated that the air in international business was getting thinner - not least because of the slowing economy in China. Imports rose in October for the third month in a row, by an unexpectedly strong 5.0 percent. "The really good news is that more goods are arriving in Germany again," said VP Bank's chief economist, Thomas Gitzel. "That signals a certain relaxation with the tense material shortage." However, a study by the credit insurer Euler Hermes pours water into the wine here too: The bottlenecks are likely to drag on for a long time, especially in the case of semiconductors - on which the automotive industry, for example, is so urgently dependent. "Asia and the USA have secured the largest contingents," said the head of Euler Hermes in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Milo Bogaerts. "Germany, as the leading industrial nation in Europe, was left behind in comparison."