BERLIN (Reuters) -German exports went up more than expected in April, as Europe’s biggest economy relied on trade with the U.S. and the euro area to recover from the initial effects of the war in Ukraine, government data showed on Friday.
The Federal Statistical Office said that exports went up 4.4% from the month before. This was almost three times the increase of 1.5% that economists in a Reuters poll had predicted.
In March, exports decreased by 3%.
Germany’s export-based economy got a boost even though trade with Russia has dropped in recent months because of harsh sanctions put in place by the West to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine.
The statistics office said that exports from Germany to Russia fell another 10% in April after falling 60% in March.
The statistics office said that imports rose by 3.1% in April, which was more than expected after a 3.2% rise in March.
The April trade numbers were a “pleasing surprise,” said Carsten Brzeski, the chief economist at ING.
“German exports have kept going even though there have been more problems in the supply chain and the war in Ukraine has hurt the economy. For now, at least, “he said.
But the Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) said that the improvement might not last long.
Volker Treier, head of foreign trade at DIHK, said, “The export engine is working very hard.” He also said that April’s growth was only due to price increases in exports, which had fallen in real terms.
Treier said that China’s weeks-long COVID lockdowns would cause bottlenecks in the supply chain, but not right away.
The DIHK thinks that Germany’s exports will stay about the same in 2022.
