German exports fell in September, reversing growth in the previous month, preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office “Destatis” (Destatis), cited by DPA, showed.
Exports amounted to 128.2 billion euros ($137.9 billion) in September, down 1.7 percent from the August level (131.9 billion euros), while year-on-year, compared with September 2023, the decline was 0, 2 percent, the data shows.
Increasing competition between German goods on world markets with China, as well as structural problems in German industry, such as high energy prices, continue to challenge the country's exports.
For the January-September 2024 period, exports decreased by 1 percent on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis compared to the same period last year, amounting to 1.2 trillion euros, Destatis reported.
Meanwhile, imports increased in September to €111.3 billion, up month-on-month by 2.1 percent and year-on-year in September by 1.3 percent.
In the nine-month period from January to September, imports to Germany totaled 988.6 billion euros, down 4.2 percent from the same period in 2023, the statistics office said.