German exports surprisingly fall in May – weak demand from the EU
Berlin German exports fell surprisingly in May due to weaker demand from the EU countries. They were 0.5 percent lower than in the previous month and totaled 125.8 billion euros, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Monday.
Economists surveyed by the Reuters news agency, on the other hand, had expected growth of 0.9 percent after there had been a seasonally and calendar-adjusted increase of 4.4 percent in April. Imports, on the other hand, increased this time by 2.7 percent, three times as much as expected and thus for the fourth month in a row.
“Most German exports went to the United States in May 2022,” the statisticians found. 5.7 percent more goods were exported there than in the previous month, taking them to a value of 13.4 billion euros. Exports to the People’s Republic of China increased by only 0.5 percent to 8.7 billion euros. Exports to Great Britain shrank by 2.5 percent to 5.8 billion euros, while those to the EU countries fell by 2.8 percent to 67.5 billion euros.
Exports to Russia grew by 29.4 percent to 1.0 billion euros, after falling almost 60 percent in March and another 9.9 percent in April. Western states have since February 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine Sanctions imposed on Russia.
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German exporters are going into the second half of the year with less optimism. The barometer for export expectations fell in June by 0.7 to 3.7 points, as the Munich Ifo Institute found out in its monthly survey of 2,300 industrial companies. Previously there had been two increases in a row. “logistics problems and high uncertainty are depressing the outlook for the German export economy,” said Klaus Wohlrabe, head of the Ifo surveys.
More: Slump in business expectations: German industry is facing an existential crisis
