BERLIN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- German exports in November 2019 decreased by 2.9 percent to a total of 112.9 billion euros (125.5 billion U.S. dollars), according to figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Thursday.
At the same time, Germany imported goods worth 94.6 billion euros, 1.6 percent less than that of November 2018, according to Destatis.
Without seasonal and short-term fluctuations, "the broader picture is unchanged", Axel Lindner, deputy head of the Department of Macroeconomics at the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) told Xinhua on Thursday.
Since early 2018, Germany's real merchandise exports had been "basically stagnant", added Lindner. Manufacturing output was even "contracting" and was now about 7 percent lower than at the beginning of 2018.
"The declines in German exports and imports illustrate once again that the trade conflicts and the deteriorating global economy will leave a clear mark on the 2019 balance sheet", said Holger Bingmann, president of the federation of German wholesale, foreign trade and services (BGA) on Thursday.
While German exports to countries of the European Union decreased by 2.4 percent, exports of goods to countries outside the European Union even declined by 3.5 percent, according to Destatis.
"The risks for the global economy intensified again at the beginning of the year", stressed Bingmann and added that the escalation in the Middle East represented a "further factor of uncertainty for companies."
With regard to Germany´s foreign trade balance, the surplus of 18.3 billion euros in November 2019 was below the 2018 level of 20.2 billion euros, Destatis noted.
According to Lindner, confidence indicators would suggest that Germany's "industrial downturn should bottom out this winter" but IWH was not expecting merchandize exports to expand strongly in 2020.
