German exports fell 23.1 percent year on year in February as the economic crisis takes its toll on the demand for Germany’s products, according to latest government figures released on Wednesday.
On a monthly basis, imports fell for the fifth straight month with February recording a 4.2% decline after a slower 1.8% drop in January. On an annual basis, imports were down 16.4% following a 13.7% decrease in the prior month. The annual fall in imports extended for the fourth straight month.
The surplus of trade in February also suffered a great loss compared with February 2008, said Destatis. The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 8.9 billion euros in February 2009, while in February 2008, the surplus amounted to 17.1 billion euros.
The German economy is heavily dependent on revenues from its exporting industries. Its exports were equivalent to more than 47 percent of national GDP in 2008. This is more than double the total of its leading competitors. The comparable figure for Japan is less than 20 percent, and for the US about 13 percent.
Separate figures from the German economic ministry indicate that the country’s manufacturing orders were down 38 percent in February compared to the same month in 2008.
The government forecast in January that it would contract by 2.25 percent — already easily the worst performance since World War II — but has since conceded that it will have to revise the figure downward.
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