Flying in the face of concerns that the strong euro is hurting German exports, Germany's trade surplus soared to its highest level ever in 2004.
The trade surplus - the balance between what a country exports and what it imports - amounted to €155.6 billion last year, exceeding the previous record of €129.9 billion set in 2003, the federal statistics office, Destatis, calculated in preliminary figures.
The biggest euro zone economy exported goods worth a record €731 billion, 10% more than in 2003, while imports grew by 7.7% to €575.4 billion.
Germany looks therefore set to retain its title 'export champion of the world,' conferred on it by the World Trade Organisation in 2003, amid robust demand for German-made goods, particularly from eastern Europe, Asia and the US.
The data show that fears about the negative economic impact of the strong euro - which makes German goods more expensive than rival products manufactured elsewhere - have so far been exaggerated.
The volume of German exports to other euro zone countries increased by 10.3% and exports to the wider EU were up by 9.8%. Exports to countries that are in the EU, but not the euro zone grew by 8.8%, and exports to other countries around the world, such as the US and Asia expanded by 10.4%, Destatis said.
