BERLIN (Reuters) – German exports beat forecasts with 4.5% growth in June, hitting a record level thanks to demand from the European Union, the United States and China, data showed on Wednesday.
Exports rose for a third month in a row, pushing Germany’s seasonally adjusted trade surplus to 6.4 billion euros ($6.51 billion) in June, well above a forecast for 2.7 billion euros.
Preliminary data last month had shown Germany posting its first trade deficit in more than 30 years, but the May figure of -1.0 billion euros was revised on Wednesday to a surplus of 0.8 billion euros.
Exports to the United States, Germany’s biggest exports market, rose by 6.2% in June compared with May, while those to European Union member states were up by 3.9%.
Economists cautioned, though, that the statistics office’s figures were calculated on a nominal basis and did not include the impact of rising prices.
“These figures should be taken with a grain of salt,” Thomas Gitzel of VP Bank said.
June imports increased by 0.2% on the previous month in calendar- and seasonally-adjusted terms, the federal statistics office said.
Analysts polled by Reuters had pointed to a month-on-month increase of 1% in exports and 1.3% in imports.
($1 = 0.9833 euros)
(Writing by Rachel More; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Andrew Heavens)
