The long success story of German exporters continued in June

The long success story of German exporters continued in June, despite production disruptions due to material bottlenecks. Exports grew by 1.3 percent compared to the previous month and thus for the 14th time in a row, according to the Federal Statistical Office. The plus was a good three times as strong as predicted by economists. In May it was 0.4 percent. This time imports rose by 0.6 percent. Exports were 1.1 percent and imports even 10.0 percent higher than in February 2020, the month before the restrictions caused by the corona pandemic in Germany. "Even if the well-filled order books are not reflected in a correspondingly high production in view of the lack of preliminary products, exports can benefit from the good order situation," said VP Bank's chief economist Thomas Gitzel. "So the companies are at least able to ship enough products to get exports up." In June, the companies sold goods worth 118.7 billion euros abroad. Compared to June 2020, this is an increase of 23.6 percent. Exports to the most important export customer, the USA, grew by almost 40 percent to 10.3 billion euros, those to Britain by 11.0 percent to 5.5 billion euros and those to China by 16.0 percent to 9.5 billion euros. Foreign business with EU countries increased by 26.1 percent to 64.5 billion euros. The German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) recently raised its export forecast because of the global economic recovery led by the US and China. German companies are likely to export eight percent more in 2021. In the entire first half of the year the increase was 16.7 percent, with exports totaling 673 billion euros. Because of the Corona crisis, they fell by more than nine percent in 2020.