German exports are brisk despite the Euro. To Asia, I would imagine. Maybe unlike the US it's more important to have the products they need, instead of just relying on the currency crutch?
"Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- German exports rose for the
fifth time in six months in December, defying the
appreciation of the euro against the U.S. dollar and
underpinning expectations that growth in Europe's
largest economy is accelerating.
Sales abroad, adjusted for seasonal swings, climbed
1.6 percent from November, the Federal Statistics
Office said in Wiesbaden. Germany exported goods worth
661.6 billion euros in the whole of last year, a
record.
Germany is counting on exports to boost economic
growth after the most job losses in a decade last year
pared consumer spending. One ``must not overestimate''
the effect of the euro's 20 percent increase against
the dollar on exports and the economy, Bundesbank
President Ernst Welteke said Monday.
``Export growth will be the pillar of the economy this
year,'' said Gunter Schall, an economist at the BDI
industry association, whose 107,000 members include
DaimlerChrysler AG and Siemens AG. ``The world economy
is buzzing.''
The BDI expects exports to rise 5 percent this year
from 2003. In November, the latest month for which
detailed export data is available, sales to China rose
14 percent from a year ago and to France, Germany's
biggest trading partner, 1.9 percent. Exports to the
U.S. fell 14 percent." |
