Solid German exports

German exports will rise by only 4.0 percent this year, after soaring by 8.2 percent in 2011 and 13.7 percent in 2010, the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) predicted in its global trade forecast on Thursday.

"German companies are faced with bigger problems to sell their products to many eurozone nations which are suffering from the severe debt crisis," the DIHK said in a statement.

The association added, though, that problems on the European markets were largely being compensated by booming trade with emerging economies. Exports to the BRICS bloc which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa made up just 4.5 percent back in the year 2000, while they would amount to 15 percent in 2013, the DIHK predicted.

Ambitious aims

Because of a weak euro and soaring demand for its goods overseas, Germany looked likely to retain its current 8.1-percent share in global trade.

According to the DIHK, German exports would rise by 6.0 percent next year. "That would mean that we'd be able to snatch the title of the world's second-biggest exporter from the US again," the DIHK stated, adding that China would remain the uncontested number one.

It said imports would also be on the rise and expected them to reach the one-trillion-euro ($1.228 trillion) threshold next year, emphasizing that Germany had remained the most important market for 18 fellow European Union economies.

hg/mz (Reuters, dpa)