German exports and imports both weaken in September

Fresh data on German trade released on Friday underscored the ongoing fragility faced by Europe’s top economy, coming in worse than expected.

In September, exports from Germany registered a 2.4% month-over-month decline, surpassing the 2% drop pencilled in by economists surveyed by FactSet.

That marked the third consecutive monthly decrease, with exports plummeting by 7.5% compared to the same month in 2022.

Imports also experienced a setback, dropping by 1.7% compared to the previous month and by 16.6% compared to September of the prior year.

The seasonally adjusted trade balance in Germany for September fell to €16.5bn, down from a revised €17.7 billion in August, though slightly above the consensus estimate of €16.3bn.

“The nominal trade balance has now normalised after the terms-of-trade shock late last year,” said Pantheon Macroeconomics chief eurozone economist Claus Vistesen.

“The inflation-adjusted surplus, by contrast, has declined slightly in the past six months, but the big hit to GDP growth was in the second quarter.

“The three-month change in both imports and exports, in nominal terms, remains below zero.”

Exports to other European Union countries contracted by 2.1% and saw significant declines of 4.0% and 7.3% in exports to the United States and China, respectively.

Conversely, exports to the United Kingdom increased by 2.3% on a monthly basis.

On the import side, demand from other EU countries declined by 2.6% and 0.9% from China.

Imports from the US and the UK, however, rose by 0.5% and 5.2%, respectively.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.