Overview
- Destatis reported Friday that March exports rose 0.5% while imports jumped 5.1%, cutting the seasonally adjusted trade surplus to €14.3 billion.
- Sales to the United States fell 7.9% from February and 21.4% from a year earlier, the sharpest annual drop since June 2020, even as exports to EU partners rose 3.4%.
- Industrial output declined 0.7% in March, with machinery and energy production lower, as the economy ministry linked the setback to Iran-war price shocks and growing supply strains.
- New industrial orders jumped 5.0% in March in what business groups and the ministry said was partly precautionary buying, with standout gains in electrical equipment, electronics, and machinery.
- Analysts cut 2026 growth expectations toward roughly 0.4–0.5%, pointing to higher energy and transport costs, softer demand outside Europe, and rising U.S. tariff risks that could squeeze margins and delay investment.