German exports, imports down in September: Destatis

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German exports fell slightly by 0.5 percent in September, while imports were down 2.3 percent compared with the previous month, according to preliminary figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Wednesday.

In August, exports and imports of Europe's largest economy had still grown by 1.6 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.

China remained Germany's most important trading partner as goods worth 16.7 billion euros (16.6 billion U.S. dollars) were imported from China in September, an increase of 5.4 percent month-on-month. Imports from the United States decreased by 1.3 percent to 8.1 billion euros.

In September, German exports to the United States increased by 5.6 percent to 14.5 billion euros, according to Destatis. Exports to China fell slightly by 2 percent to 8.9 billion euros.

"High energy costs are pushing up the prices of German goods, making sales abroad more difficult," Antonin Finkelnburg, director general of the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA), said in a statement on Wednesday.

German companies were being "hit by persistent inflation, which is making it more expensive to buy goods abroad," he said.

Just like in the eurozone, where inflation has climbed above the 10 percent mark for the first time since the introduction of the common currency, inflation in Germany kept rising and reached 10.4 percent in October. Energy prices soared 43 percent year-on-year and continued to have a "substantial impact on the inflation rate," according to Destatis.

Germany's export-driven economy remains in difficult situation as company sentiment remains negative. "The high level of uncertainty is causing a reluctance among international customers to place new orders," Clemens Fuest, president of the ifo Institute for Economic Research, said last week. (1 euro = 0.99 U.S. dollar)

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