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Germany's foreign trade surplus unchanged in January

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Germany's foreign trade surplus unchanged in January

Germany's foreign trade surplus was unchanged at €21.3 billion in January from a downwardly revised reading of the prior month, after calendar and seasonal adjustments, as both exports and imports fell during the month, provisional data from the Federal Statistical Office showed.

Exports and imports shed 0.5% each, settling at €111.0 billion and 89.7 billion, respectively, in seasonally and calendar-adjusted terms.

In unadjusted terms, the surplus in January was €17.4 billion, up from €14.6 billion in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, the current account surplus for January reached €22.0 billion, down from €28.8 billion in December 2017, but higher than €11.9 billion surplus in the year-ago period. Services and secondary income were in deficit in January, while supplementary trade items and primary income each had a surplus for the month.

Germany's exported goods to the European Union rose 10.7% on a yearly basis to €64.9 billion in January, while EU imports gained 6.9%, reaching €49.6 billion in the month. Exports to countries outside the EU were up 5.5% to €42.2 billion, while imports rose 6.6% to €40.1 billion in January.

Carsten Brzeski, chief economist for Germany and Austria at ING Research, said in a note that "the biggest risk currently for German exports seems to come from the U.S.," following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of import tariffs. The U.S. was Germany's biggest export partner in 2017, according to the research note.

"New protectionism would definitely hurt the self-proclaimed export world champion and the Italian elections could slow down current euphoria," Brzeski said. "However, at least for the near term, there is plenty of evidence that the German economy will power ahead."

Meanwhile, new factory orders in Germany fell 3.9% in January month over month, but climbed 8.2% year over year. German industrial production was down 0.1% in January, but up 5.5% year over year.