2021.06.0911:04:00UTC+00Germany Exports Growth Slows More Than Expected

Germany's exports growth eased more-than-expected in April and imports dropped for the first time in three months, data released by Destatis revealed on Wednesday.

Exports rose only 0.3 percent month-on-month in April, after a 1.3 percent rise in March. Economists had forecast a monthly growth of 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, imports declined 1.7 percent in April reversing a 7.1 percent rise in the previous month. This was bigger than the economists' forecast of -1.1 percent.

As a result, the trade surplus rose to EUR 15.9 billion in April from EUR 14 billion in March. The expected level was EUR 16.3 billion.

On a year-on-year basis, exports growth surged to 47.7 percent from 16.3 percent. At the same time, imports rose at a faster pace of 33.2 percent after a 16.2 percent increase a month ago.

The trade surplus increased to an unadjusted EUR 15.5 billion from EUR 3.4 billion last year.

The current account balance showed a surplus of EUR 21.3 billion in April versus EUR 10.0 billion in last year.

Exports to the United Kingdom jumped 64.1 percent annually, while imports from the UK declined 0.6 percent. Exports to China advanced 16.0 and imports from China rose 13.3 percent.

Exports to the United States surged 59.9 percent, while imports from the US rose only 2.2 percent.