Rösler: Export industry looks back on 2011 as a successful year

Commenting on the figures on foreign trade published by the Federal Statistical Office today, Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Dr. Philipp Rösler stated:

"German companies can look back on 2011 as the most successful year ever in terms of foreign trade. Although it is difficult to build on this success in view of the current phase of weakness of the world economy, German enterprises continue to be very competitive. As the global economy picks up they will therefore continue to successfully seize their growth opportunities."

Background:
As reported by the Federal Statistical Office today, in 2011 goods worth a total of € 1,060.1 billion were exported (+ 11.4 % compared with the preceding year) and goods worth € 902.0 billion were imported (+ 13.2 %). 

In December 2011 goods worth € 85.1 billion were exported from Germany, while goods worth € 72.1 billion were imported into Germany. This means that exports in current prices were 5.0 % up and nominal imports were 5.4 % up in year-on-year terms. Compared with the previous month exports fell by 4.3 % and imports by 3.9 % adjusted for calendar and seasonal variations.