German trade surplus shrinks around 10% in 2008

BERLIN, March 16 (Chinese media) -- Germany, the world's largest exporter, saw a year-on-year shrink of its foreign trade surplus of around 10 percent in 2008, the German Federal Statistics Office said on Monday.

The Wiesbaden-based office said Germany's trade surplus in 2008stood at 176.2 billion euros (around 229 billion U.S. dollars), dropping from195.3 billion euros (around 253.8 billion dollars) in2007 -- the highest surplus figure Germany has had since the beginning of the publication of foreign trade statistics for the Federal Republic of Germany in 1950.

According to provisional data provided by the office, the value of Germany's exported commodities reached 994.9 billion euros (1.292 trillion dollars), while imported commodities were worth 818.6 billion euros (1.063 trillion dollars) last year.

The country's foreign trade surplus is expected to decline further this year, as signs for an end of the ongoing global economic crisis are still nowhere to be found.

In January, the surplus was halved to 8.5 billion euros (11 billion dollars) compared to the previous month's 17.3 billion euros (22 billion dollars); and exports in January plunged 20.7 percent to 66.6 billion euros (86 billion dollars), the sharpest decline in 16 years.