Official figures show that German exports began the year strongly with a 1.4% rise in January over the previous month.
Exports rose to €91.9 billion in January from €90.6 billion in December 2012, according to figures from the Federal Statistical Office.
The figures are adjusted for calendar and seasonal effects.
With imports up 3.3% to €76.2 billion, Germany had a trade surplus of €15.7 billion in January.
The statistics office said that compared to January 2012, exports were up 3.1% in unadjusted terms.
Despite the ongoing financial crisis, exports to the European Union rose 2.1% over the year, while exports to the other 16 countries that use the euro grew 0.4%.
Those increases were dwarfed by the 4.5% rise in exports to countries outside the 27-country EU.
