German Trade Surplus Holds to Support the EUR

It’s another quiet day on the Eurozone economic calendar today. German trade data was in focus ahead of the European open.

Later today, Italian industrial production figures for December will also draw attention.

German Trade Surplus Widens

In December, Germany’s trade surplus widened from €16.0bn to €16.1bn. Economists had forecast a narrowing to €15.9bn.

According to Destatis,

• Exports rose by 0.1% on the previous month to €100.7bn.
• On the same month a year earlier, exports were up by 2.7%.
• Imports fell by 0.1% on the previous month to €85.9bn
• On the same month a year earlier, imports were up by 3.5%.

Trade with EU Countries

• In December 2020, Germany exported goods to the value of €51.4bn to EU member states. This was an increase of 4.2% compared with December 2019.
• Imports from EU member states increased by 6.0% to €45.0bn.
• German exports to euro area countries increased by 2.8% to €35.7bn.
• Imports from euro area countries rose by 3.1% to €31.1bn.

Trade with non-EU Countries

• German exports to countries outside of the EU increased by 1.1% to €49.2bn.
• Imports from countries outside of the EU increased by 0.8% to €39.8bn.

Trade with China, the US, and the UK

• Exports to China increased by 11.6% to €9.3bn compared with December 2019, with exports to the U.S rising by 8.4% to €9.2bn.
• To the UK, exports fell by 3.3% to €5.0bn.

Market Impact

Following last week’s pullback, the EUR took found support in response to this morning’s numbers.

Upon release of the stats, the EUR rose from $1.2077 to a current day high $1.20869 before easing back.

At the time of writing, the EUR was up by 0.31% to $1.20818.