German exports slump in June: statistics

German exports slumped in June on a monthly basis, the national statistics office said Tuesday in another sign of slowing global trade. German exports declined by 1.2 percent, preliminary adjusted data released by the Destatis office showed, to 88.5 billion euros ($126 billion) following a revised monthly gain of 4.4 percent in May. Imports were slightly higher at 77 billion euros, and Destatis said the country's adjusted trade surplus fell to 11.5 billion euros from 12.9 billion in May. But Germany, the second biggest exporting country worldwide after China, had a current account surplus of 11.9 billion euros in June, better than the revised figure for May of 6.7 billion euros, central bank data showed. The current account is a broader measure of trade and financial flows between countries, and analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a smaller surplus of 10 billion euros. The unadjusted German trade surplus of 12.7 billion euros in June was down from 14.8 billion in May and missed an analyst forecast for 14.3 billion however. A breakdown of the numbers showed that exports to other eurozone countries increased by 4.7 percent in June on a 12-month basis, while imports jumped by 12.6 percent. That ran counter to claims of some critics who have said German prosperity has come at the expense of its partners in the 17-nation bloc.