German exports fall sharply in March

German exports and imports fell by more than expected in March, official data showed on Thursday.

According to Destatis, the Federal Statistics Office, exports fell 5.2% on February to €129.7bn, on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, while imports were down 6.4% at €113bn.

Most analysts had been looking for exports to decline month-on-month by around 2.4%, and for imports to ease 1.7%.

Exports to other European Union countries totalled €69.3bn, a 6.2% slump, while shipments outside the block slid 4% to €60.4bn, driven by large declines in exports to the US and China, down 10.9% and 9.3% respectively.

Year-on-year, exports rose 5% while imports declined 5.5%.

The foreign trade balance for March was €16.7bn, up from €16.0bn in February and marginally above consensus for €16.1bn.

Claus Vistesen, chief Eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "The small increase in the headline surplus masks significant volatility in imports and exports.

"We continue to see no evidence of China’s reopening in these data. On the contrary, trade volumes with the big Asian economy shrunk significantly at the end of the first quarter, but note that China’s reopening didn’t get fully underway until the beginning of the second quarter."