German Exports Rose in February

German exports rose in February, before the coronavirus pandemic hit Europe(Nyheter), Germany(Nyheter)’s statistics office Destatis said Thursday.
German exports rose 1.3% in February from January in adjusted terms and imports contracted 1.6% on month, the statistics office said. The figures account for seasonal swings and calendar effects.
Economists had forecast a 0.8% decline in exports in adjusted terms, according to a poll from The Wall Street Journal.
First effects of the pandemic were observed in the trade in goods with China, which was affected in particular by the coronavirus in February, Destatis said. Compared with February 2019, exports to China decreased 8.9% to 6.8 billion euros ($7.4 billion), while imports from China fell 12.0% to EU(Nyheter)R7.4 billion.
The export data follow positive data from the industrial sector in February, the last month before the coronavirus started to severely hit Europe, indicating how recovery could have been without the pandemic.
Germany’s trade surplus–the balance of exports and imports of goods–totaled 21.6 billion euros ($23.4 billion) in calendar and seasonally adjusted terms in February, according to Destatis. This compares with The Wall Street Journal’s forecast of EUR17.2 billion.
Exports totaled EUR109.3 billion, while imports amounted to EUR88.5 billion, both in adjusted terms. Of the exports, EUR58.6 billion went to European Union member states and EUR50.6 billion to third countries, Destatis said.
According to provisional results from the Deutsche Bundesbank, the current account of the balance of payments showed a surplus of EUR23.7 billion, which takes into account the balances of trade in goods including supplementary trade items, services, primary income and secondary income. This is compares with The Wall Street Journal’s forecast of EUR17.0 billion.