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Lowest German exports for three years

Published: 3 Sep 12 16:34 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/money/20120903-44745.html

The German export industry - one of the main pillars of the country's economy - dropped to its lowest point since 2009 in August, sparking fears that the euro crisis is finally catching up with one of Europe's stronger nations.

That was the result of a survey published on Monday by the Markit Institute.

Demand is sinking particularly in recession-plagued southern European countries, the survey of 500 German firms found, but even China is reportedly struggling against the worldwide economic downturn.

The survey reported that German exports to Portugal sank by 14.3 percent in the first half of this year, while exports to Greece and Spain sank by more than nine percent.

Orders for manufacturing machines, raw materials and other producer goods were particularly affected.

And there is little room for improvement, at least in the short term, the report found, as more and more German companies lay people off.

"Despite slowing the decline, German industry faces its worst quarter in more than three years this third quarter," Markit economist Tim Moore told Reuters news agency.

Economists now fear that Germany's gross domestic product could sink in the coming year.

The Local/bk

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

18:35 September 3, 2012 by IchBinKönig
Mutually assured destruction at its best. Well, at least now the rest of Europe will have to ask a German Bureaucrat in Belgium if they deserve a Spezi or require a trip to the bathroom. Thanks Euro!
18:56 September 3, 2012 by mos101392
Well Germany, it's finally here. People can no longer afford your over priced "Made in Germany" product. You're going to have to lower prices to compete. Looks to me like more layoffs. Schlecker, Neckermann, Siemens ect is only the begining
19:00 September 3, 2012 by smart2012
Well done merkel, u have been able to transform a small issue (Greece - 42 euros worthed per European person) to a disaster..

And king, do not complain with euro (with DM German export would be already in the toilet).. Blame who has enabled a government in Germany with no leaders and no statists at the top..
19:13 September 3, 2012 by IchBinKönig
smart2012,,

Any net gain will be lost, and then some. The redistributionist scheme will result in catastrophe, and possibly war. But to you, This is what WINNING looks like, innit? Its time to allow the REAL Market value of our goods and services to express themselves. Not just how much some gullible taxpayer willing to subsidize it for their favorite Poli.
19:51 September 3, 2012 by smart2012
King, I am not happy. I just want to show that what I was saying 1.5 years ago is now proving to be correct. I am not a statist, however leaving in germany and seeing Bild propaganda and poor merkel's leadership, it was clear this would be the result. And I can see u r starting to agree even on possible ww3, if merkel will not change strategy (I am afraid though it is too late)
20:01 September 3, 2012 by Englishted
Hey you two , talk of WW3 may be a bit premature,but commonsense show you can't export to countries that are in recession or near it .

The German government is keen on others imposing cuts and one of the first cuts people make is buying less ,as they say it isn't rocket science is it.

I agree that Merkel is bad leader but can't understand why the rest can't see it too.
20:22 September 3, 2012 by smart2012
Englishted, low level people cannot see it cause they read Bild and Bild says that Germany is uber alles... Merkel is just a puppet. This is where the risk of a war comes.. Populistic press giving the completelly wrong message to this situation. And today merkel in Bavaria (probably after a mass) said that the markets are the cause of the crisis.. She is starting to cover her a..
23:49 September 3, 2012 by Berlin fuer alles
How about lettins some South American countries with weak economies join the Euro. They an even weaker Euro would boost the German exports. Then the BILD could print some articles about lazy South Americans when their exports go down due to a strong currency. Impose austerity on them and make things even worse and when that finally catches up on Germany and kicks it in the ass we could move on to another victim. So long as a way is found for big German companies to export it does not matter how far the can is kicked down the road. Someone else will end up paying for it eventually anyway. Such as the taxpayers of Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland etc etc. .....Usw. Usw.........
07:06 September 4, 2012 by melbournite
But the collapse in demand is exactly the result of a policy of austerity. The people who run capitalism have no idea how it fundamentally works. Instead of reducing demand they should have got rid of some of the corrupt businesses (in this case banks) who overproduced the product (in this case debt) that caused the crisis. If you allow anarchy to reign in the markets and then blame consumers then this is what you get
14:13 September 4, 2012 by Berlin fuer alles
Well said melbournite. The big banks were given the "too big to fail" status so didn't need to obey the "survival of the fittest" capatalist rule everyone else has to obey. This is what ultimately brings down the system. Instead of letting the bad banks fail and the shareholders in them lose out they were bailed out at the cost of austerity which in turn creates bigger problems. If these banks were let fail other better banks with good practices would have moved in and bought their debt books and accounts and continued without cost to the taxpayers of Germany, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece etc etc.
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