BERLIN, March 19 (Xinhua) -- German Electro and Digital Industry Association (ZVEI) said Tuesday that exports of the sector went up 0.3 percent year on year in January to reach 20.8 billion euros (about 22.6 billion U.S. dollars).
ZVEI chief economist Andreas Gontermann attributed the growth, for the first time over the past half a year, primarily to a recovery in business with China.
Electrical exports to China, the industry's largest single customer country, reached 2.3 billion euros in January. Exports to France, Spain and Slovakia also increased while those to the United States, the Netherlands and Italy fell, according to the ZVEI.
Meanwhile, the "weak phase in imports of electrical products to Germany continued," said the ZVEI, adding that imports fell by 7.2 percent year on year to 21.3 billion euros in January and the downward trend has persisted since August last year.
The industry's real production is expected to fall by 2 percent this year and "overall, the economic environment remains challenging," a ZVEI spokesperson told Xinhua on Tuesday.
Export expectations for the German industry as a whole remain negative as companies were currently only able to benefit to a limited extent from the moderate growth in the global economy, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) said last week.
Only 13 percent of the companies in the Europe's largest economy still expected an improvement in international business this year. "Under the current circumstances, we will be lucky if there is at least a small increase in exports this year," said DIHK president Peter Adrian.
Given the facts that "private consumption and exports are recovering later and less dynamically in Germany," the Kiel Institute for the World Economy lowered its 2024 growth forecast for German economy to 0.1 percent, from the previous projection of 0.9 percent. (1 euro = 1.09 U.S. dollar) ■
