In October, Germany experienced the sharpest decline in exports in ten months, primarily driven by a significant drop in demand from the United States, with only a slight decrease in overall imports, according to data released by Destatis on Friday. Exports fell by 2.8% compared to the previous month, marking a steeper decline than the 1.8% decrease observed in September and the largest since December of the previous year. Analysts had projected a 2.0% fall in exports.
Meanwhile, imports saw a marginal decrease of 0.1%, a stark contrast to the 2.0% growth recorded in the preceding month. This decline was significantly less than the 0.6% drop economists had anticipated.
As a result, Germany's trade balance reflected a surplus of EUR 13.4 billion in October. Forecasts had predicted a reduction in the surplus to EUR 15.7 billion, down from EUR 16.9 billion in September.
Year-on-year, exports saw a modest increase of 0.4%, reversing the 0.3% decline noted in September. Import growth accelerated to 4.3%, up from 1.3% in the previous period.
Exports to eurozone countries decreased by 0.7% month-on-month, while imports from these nations remained steady in October.
Exports to the United States fell sharply by 14.2% month-on-month, and there was a 3.8% decline in exports to China. In contrast, exports to the United Kingdom rose by 2.1%.
Conversely, imports from the United States and China decreased by 3.9% and 3.0%, respectively, whereas imports from the United Kingdom increased by 1.4%.
