Rising German exports to SE Asia offset lower China trade

German exports to South-East Asia had increased in the first half of this year, partly compensating for the lost trade with China.

As reported by the German Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (GTAI), Germany shipped goods worth $16 billion to the members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

This corresponds to an increase of 8.5 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year.

The most important customer is Singapore, from where many of the goods were transported to neighbouring countries.

The strongest growth was in exports to Indonesia, with an increase of 38per cent.

ASEAN included Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

According to Germany Trade & Invest, exports to the ASEAN countries and India have compensated for half of the losses the export market suffered due to weak demand from China.

Germany’s Federal Statistical Office says exports to China fell by 8.4 per cent in the first half of the year.

According to the GTAI, this was due partly to dwindling car and chemical exports to the world’s second largest economy.