Germany: Exports rebound in May
German exports increased 1.1% month-on-month on a calendar- and seasonally-adjusted basis in May, swinging from a strong 3.4% fall in April (previously reported: -3.7% month-on-month). Imports, on the other hand, dropped 0.5% month-on-month in May, marking a softer drop than April’s 0.9% fall (previously reported: -1.3% mom). The trade surplus consequently widened to EUR 18.7 billion in May from a EUR 17.0 billion surplus in April.
On the year, exports also rebounded and jumped 4.5% in May to contrast the 0.2% drop in April (previously reported: -0.5% year-on-year). As a result, growth in the 12-month moving sum of exports increased to 2.7% in May from 2.2% in the prior month. Imports, meanwhile, grew a stronger 4.9% year-on-year in May, which is up from the 2.5% in April; the 12-month moving sum of imports picked up to 5.9% in May from 5.6% in April. The 12-month moving sum of the trade balance, however, narrowed to EUR 220.9 billion in May from EUR 222.9 billion in April.
Dr. Holger Bingmann, president of the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA), stated that “the good result is overshadowed by the continuing negative trend in new orders. It is to be expected that the economic slowdown will pick up speed.”