US biggest German market

Data released by the German federal statistics agency (Destatis) showed that clients in the US bought more goods and services from Germany in the first six months of 2015 than did those of any other country - even France, which has long been the No. 1 customer for everything Made in Germany.

"The US's rise to the top isn't a passing fad," the head of the external trade department at the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), Volker Treier, told Reuters news agency. France no longer being Germany's single biggest customer amounts to "the end of an era."

One reason for increased imports from Germany is that the US economy is growing fast.

A weak euro helps

The other reason is the weak euro, which has given a big boost to German exports to the US. Measured in dollar terms, everything made in Europe suddenly became substantially cheaper early in 2015.

In early 2014, it took $1.39 to buy a euro - the euro's highest level since autumn 2011. A year later, the euro had plunged so dramatically that it only took $1.05 to buy a unit of the eurozone's currency. In the past couple of days, the euro has cost between $1.135 and $1.155.

Thanks to the combination of a rising US economy and a sinking euro, US imports of German goods and services rose by 24 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2015, all the way up to 55.8 billion euros, preliminary Destatis data showed.

That left France in second place at 53.5 billion euros. The UK was third with 45.0 billion euros, the Netherlands fourth at 39.1 billion, and China fifth at 36.0 billion.

This means that nearly one in 10 euros earned abroad by German exporters was earned in the US in the first half of this year.

Dutch buyers outdo US by a wide margin

On a per capita basis, however, when it comes to importing goods from Germany, the Netherlands continues to lead the pack by a long way.

The little country on Germany's northwest border, which is culturally, historically and economically very closely linked to the Teutonic powerhouse, has a population of just under 17 million. That means the Dutch imported German goods and services to the tune of about 2,300 euros per capita in the first six months of 2015.

In contrast, the US population of over 321 million imported less than 174 euros' worth on a per capita basis.

nz/hg (Reuters, Destatis)