Berlin: German exports to Iran, mostly machines and equipment, jumped in the first half of the year following the removal of international sanctions against it, official trade data showed yesterday.
Exports to Iran surged by 15 per cent year-on-year in the first six months of 2016 to 1.13 billion euros ($1.3bn), the Federal Statistics Office said.
This compares with a rise of 1.4pc in overall German exports in the same period and a fall of 14pc in German exports to Iran in 2015.
In another positive sign, German exports to Russia fell only 3.5pc to 10.1bn euros in the January-June period after having plunged by 25pc to 21bn euros in 2015.
This indicates that the impact of international sanctions imposed against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine is bottoming out.
Overall trade prospects are more clouded, however.
German exports to the US and France, its two most important markets, fell 4pc to 53.4bn euros and 2pc to 52.1bn euros respectively on the year in the first six months of 2016.
Exports to Britain, Germany’s third-most important market, stagnated in the first half of the year at around 44.8bn euros.
Demand from emerging markets was subdued, with German exports to China only inching up 1pc to 36.3bn euros, to Brazil falling 18pc to 4.4bn euros and to South Africa down 11pc to 4.4bn euros.
In 2015, German exports grew by 6.4pc on the year, mainly driven by strong demand from other EU countries. This led to net foreign trade contributing 0.2 percentage points to an overall growth rate of 1.7pc last year.