German exports beat forecasts with 4.5% growth in June, hitting a record level thanks to demand from the European Union, the United States and China, data showed on Wednesday.
Exports rose for the third straight month, boosting Germany’s seasonally adjusted trade surplus to 6.4 billion euros ($6.51 billion) in June, well above the forecast of 2.7 billion euros.
Preliminary data last month showed Germany had posted its first trade deficit in more than 30 years, but May’s figure of -1 billion euros was revised on Wednesday to a surplus of 800 million euros.
Exports to the United States, Germany’s largest export market, rose 6.2% in June from May, while those to European Union member states rose 3.9%.
However, economists caution that the figures from the statistical office are calculated on a nominal basis and do not include the impact of rising prices.
“These numbers should be taken with a grain of salt,” said VP Bank’s Thomas Gitzel.
June imports rose 0.2% from the previous month in calendar- and seasonal-adjusted terms, the federal statistics office said.
Analysts polled by Reuters had pointed to a 1% month-on-month increase in exports and 1.3% in imports.