Trade between Germany and UK "losing importance": Destatis

Source: Xinhua| 2019-10-14 20:40:10|Editor: xuxin
Video PlayerClose

BERLIN, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The downward trend of goods trade between Germany and the United Kingdom (UK) observed since the Brexit referendum is continuing and trade is "losing importance," the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Monday.

The UK ranked seventh among Germany's most important trading partners, with a turnover of 68.5 billion euros (75.5 billion U.S. dollars) between January and July 2019, according to Destatis figures.

Compared to 2018, the UK has again fallen one place in the ranking of Germany's most important trading partners. In 2015, the year before the Brexit referendum, the UK ranked fifth, Destatis noted.

According to Destatis, German exports to the UK fell by 4.6 percent year-on-year, while imports from the UK decreased by 3.7 percent.

"The weakening trade figures with the United Kingdom clearly reflect the uncertainty that has been prevalent since the (Brexit) referendum," Gabriel Felbermayr, president of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), told Xinhua on Monday.

German exports to the UK "in particular have been falling steadily since the referendum" in 2016, Destatis noted. Before the referendum, German exports had risen "steadily" between 2010 and 2015 and peaked at 89 billion euros in 2015.

German imports from the UK, on the other hand, showed a "different trend," Destatis noted. After a peak in 2011, imports had fallen until 2016 but recovered "slightly" in 2017 and 2018.

According to Destatis, the German automotive industry was "particularly affected" by the negative developments in foreign trade because almost a quarter of all goods traded between Germany and the UK in 2018 were motor vehicles and vehicle components.

The volume of German motor vehicles and vehicle components exported to the UK decreased by 22.7 percent compared to 2015 levels and the most recent figures confirm the "declining trend." Between January and July 2019, German car exports fell by 9.7 percent compared with the same period in the previous year, while imports of automotive goods decreased by 9.1 percent.

"The export-oriented German industry continues to face weak world trade, stagnating global industrial activity and a worldwide slowdown of demand for motor vehicles," the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) noted on Monday.

TOP STORIES
EDITOR’S CHOICE
MOST VIEWED
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020070750000000000000011100001384713271