German exports to new EU states boom

10 May 2004

WIESBADEN – German exports to the new European Union countries have shown strong growth even before the 1 May accession of the 10 nations, figures released Monday showed.

Exports to the 10 EU accession countries in February increased 10.8 percent to EUR 4.9 billion compared with a year earlier

Exports to the European Union as a whole, including the ten EU accession countries, rose 6.7 percent to EUR 36.9 billion, the Federal Statistical Office said.

All major German trading partners among the 10 accession countries saw an increase of exports, including the Czech Republic, up 5.7 percent, Poland (plus 10.8 percent) and Hungary (plus 9.3 percent)

Exports into the 15 “old” EU member states rose slightly above average when compared with total German exports.

But exports into the larger partner countries France (plus 3.4 percent), the Netherlands (plus 5 percent) and Britain (plus 5.7 percent) did not reach that growth rate.

Altogether, German exports rose 5.3 percent to EUR 56.6 billion on February last year.

Trade with China increased strongly, with exports growing 17.8 percent to EUR 1.5 billion compared with February 2003.

Exports to the United States continued to decline, down 5.1 percent to EUR 5.1 billion on a year ago.

On the import side, trade with the EU accession countries rose 13.8 percent to EUR five billion compared with February last year. Imports from Poland (plus 15.5 percent) and Hungary (plus 16.4 percent) increased above average.

Imports from the 15 “old” EU member states were up 1.3 percent which was below average compared with total German imports. Imports from China rose a strong 21.3 percent.

DPA

Subject: German news