GERMANY will set another export record this year despite recent worries of an economic slowdown in China, according to the head of the German trade association.

    Economists have expressed concern that China’s woes might become a burden for Germany’s export-centric economy, Europe’s largest, which has the greatest exposure to China of all 28 EU member states.

    China is Germany’s fourth-biggest export market, accounting for 6.6 percent of its exports.

    Anton Boerner, head of the BGA trade association, told the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel that he still expected German companies to trump last year’s record trade performance.

    “We’ll manage to post a small plus,” Boerner said, adding that China’s impact on Germany should not be overestimated, and that he was more worried about the risk of a break-up of the eurozone.

    “There was an incredible growth phase over several decades (in China). So it’s only natural if there is a setback now,” Boerner said, adding that German exports to China might grow at a slower pace, but would not decline.

    In total, Germany exported 1.13 trillion euros’ worth of goods and services in 2014, a 3.7 percent increase on 2013, despite sluggish global growth and the sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

    However, weaker demand from abroad was reflected in a sharper-than-expected drop in industrial orders in July.

    (SD-Agencies)