A China-Europe freight train bound for Hamburg of Germany departs from Haicang Station in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, Nov. 13, 2020.(Photo: Xinhua)
A man works at a workshop of Harbin Dongan Automotive Engine Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 25, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)
Employees produce ventilators at Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd., a medical device manufacturer based in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, March 31, 2020.(Photo: Xinhua)
Workers perform quality check on an excavator production line at the Volvo Construction Equipment (China) Co., Ltd. in east China's Shanghai, Dec. 17, 2020.(Photo: Xinhua)
German exports to the United States and China, the country's biggest export markets in 2020, showed a mixed picture as exports to the U.S. were "much more affected" by the COVID-19 crisis than exports to China, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Wednesday.
Germany exported goods worth 103.8 billion euros (125.6 billion U.S. dollars) to the United States in 2020, a drop of 12.5 percent year-on-year, according to provisional results by Destatis.
Germany's exports to China almost remained at the previous year's level and only declined by 0.1 percent to 95.9 billion euros, according to Destatis. Overall, German exports were down 9.3 percent in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decline in exports to the U.S. was the highest since the financial crisis in 2009 when German exports to the U.S. plummeted by 23.9 percent year-on-year, Destatis said. German exports to China fell in 2015 after the diesel gate scandal that shook the country's car industry.
"The diverging developments in the coronavirus crisis year 2020 are particularly noticeable when looking at the different quarters," Destatis said. Export business with China was particularly affected by the pandemic in the first quarter of 2020.
"A trend reversal was observed in the second quarter," according to Destatis. German exports to the U.S. slumped by 31.2 percent year-on-year. By contrast, exports to China showed "only a comparatively small decline" of 4.4 percent and even started to increase again in the third quarter.
Last week, the ifo Institute said that German exporters benefited from China's good economic situation as the ifo index for export expectations rose from 7.5 points in the previous month to 10.7 points in February.
"China's good economic situation and an increase in U.S. production are helping German exporters," said President of the ifo Institute Clemens Fuest in a statement.