The Federal Office of Statistics reported on February 7 that German exports were worth a record 893.6 billion euros in 2006, 13.7 percent more than in 2005. This put Germany in the lead among the world's exporting nations, followed by the United States and China in second and third places.
The export sector is a major driving force for growth. The German economy expanded by 2.5 percent in 2006, the strongest increase registered since 2000, with exports accounting for 0.7 percent of the overall growth figure.
Export growth continued to be strong right up to the end of 2006, showing 10.3 percent for the month of December.
The trade balance in 2006 showed a surplus of 161.9 billion euros, as opposed to 158.2 billion euros in 2005.
Imports in 2006 rose even more strongly than exports, i.e. by 16.5 percent, to a volume of 731.7 billion euros.
Three-quarters to EU countries
The largest share of exported goods, valued at 556.1 billion euros, went to other EU countries. That was 11.5 percent more than in the previous year. The growth in exports to non-EU countries was particularly strong, 17.3 percent, taking that total to 337.6 billion euros.
Economists are expecting to see further growth in the export sector in 2007, but not as strong, somewhere around 7 percent.
