German exports pick up
June 24, 2013
The German Federation of German Industry (BDI) said Monday global economic developments were pointing in a positive direction, boosting domestic companies' hopes that they would be able to increase their exports in the next couple of months.
"German exporters and some industries more than others are looking to the next months with a great deal of optimism," BDI managing director Markus Kerbel said in Berlin during a presentation of the federation's latest foreign trade study.
He added the BDI stuck to its former prediction of a 3.5 percent increase in German exports throughout 2013.
Hopes for trans-Atlantic deal
Kerber noted that the country's electrical industry had the highest expectations for the months ahead, saying its confidence had reached levels not seen since February 2011. Companies representing the chemical industry were expecting rising demand for German products particularly in emerging economies, with the machine tools sector also confident to return a path of boosted exports.
Even the automotive industry, which had had suffered from the protracted sales slowdown in crisis-hit southern Europe, believed that the worst was over and shipments abroad would slowly pick up again, the study found.
BDI chief Kerber pointed to the future potential of a free trans-Atlantic trade pact between the EU and the US, with negotiations about a deal to start soon.
"Trade volumes between the two sides might reach an additional 200 billion euros ($262 billion) annually with such a deal in place," he argued. "In Germany alone, we could see the creation midterm of up to 100,000 new jobs."
hg/mkg (dpa, Reuters)