German exports are set to pick up in 2010 after plunging 18 per cent this year, a report drawn up by the nation's industry association says. The Federation of German Industry (BDI) predicts that exports from Europe's biggest economy will grow by 4 per cent in 2010 as global trade recovers from recession.
"Germany's export industry is on the mend but its recovery will take a long time," said BDI chief Hans-Peter Keitel in the report, a copy of which was obtained by the German Press Agency dpa. However, as the upswing in global economic growth gains ground, many economists predict that China will soon replace Germany as the world's leading export nation.
Either way, the BDI projections also point to the key role exports will play in keeping Germany on an economic growth path after it emerged from its deepest recession in a generation during the second quarter. Keitel said he believed that at the current rate of growth it would take until 2014 before the performance of the export sector reached its pre-crisis level. Keitel went on to predict that Asia's fast-moving economy would again emerge as "an anchor of stability" for Germany's key export sector as other parts of the world struggle to shake off the fallout from the recession.