China jumps as German trade partner

14 May 2004

WIESBADEN – China stood out as an increasingly important trade partner for Germany in 2003, with double-digit growth rates both on the export and import side, government data showed Friday.

The Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden, in a country-by- country report on Germany’s foreign trade last year, said China gained two places from the year before to rank tenth as a market for German exports, and seventh among nations exporting to Germany.

Overall, German exports last year rose 1.6 percent to EUR 661.6 billion, while imports gained by 2.6 percent to EUR 532 billion, the office’s preliminary figures showed.

German exports to China surged by 24.9 percent to EUR 18.2 billion. The only other double-digit rise was the 10.4 percent growth, to EUR 32.5 billion, in exports to Spain.

Notably, with the strong euro versus the dollar, exports to the United States dropped by 9.7 percent to EUR 61.7 billion, the office’s figures showed.

The US market still ranked second for German exports after number-one France, where German exports gained 1.9 percent to EUR 70 billion.

On the import side, only two countries stood out with double-digit growth in their deliveries to Germany – China and Poland.

Imports from China jumped 17.3 percent to EUR 25 billion, while those from Poland improved 11.2 percent to EUR 15.8 billion, for 13th position among German import partners.

DPA

Subject: German news