Germany's trade surplus reached 158 billion euros ($209 billion) in 2011 on record exports that gained 11.4 percent, data released by the national statistics office showed Wednesday.

The trade surplus for Europe's biggest economy stood at 155 billion in 2010, but exports exceeded one trillion euros for the first time last year, reaching a record 1.06 trillion, the figures showed.

Germany remained the world's second biggest exporter however, behind China which posted 2011 exports worth a total 1.432 billion euros.

China's trade surplus last year was nonetheless a more modest 117 billion euros.

Elsewhere in the 17-nation eurozone, the second biggest economy, France, posted on Tuesday a trade deficit of almost 70 billion euros.

France and China are Germany's leading trading partners.

But German imports also gained 13.2 percent to set a new record last year owing to a strengthening of domestic consumption.

The value of German imports reached an all-time high of 902 billion euros, the data showed.

Berlin's balance of payments, a broader measure of exchanges with other countries that includes financial transfers, showed a surplus of 136 billion euros in 2011, down from 142 billion in 2010.

For December alone, the more narrow trade surplus came to 13.9 billion euros, in line with market expectations.