The volume of German exports was as small in January this year as 16 years ago for the last time. Germany exported goods to the value of 66.6 billion Euros which was 20.7% less than one year ago. The volume of imports also fell significantly by 12.9% to 58.1 billion Euros. As compared to December 2008, exports and imports fell by 4.4% and 0.8% respectively after adjustments for calendar and season. For the time being the above figures are provisional ones provided by the Federal Statistical Office. more…

According to the latest “DDMA Chinese Consumer Sentiment Index“ study, in the course of which each month 9600 urban Chinese consumers between 25 and 45 years of age are interviewed in five cities, the global crisis affects spending of Chinese consumers too. Thus, 45% of Chinese consumers reduced their consumption in February 2009 which was an increase by 7% as compared to January this year. more…

For the first time since the introduction of the Insolvency Code in the year 1999 did not only the number of business insolvencies decrease in Germany, but also that of private consumers. According to the Federal Statistical Office, in 2008 local courts registered in total 155,202 insolvencies, 98,140 of which of private consumers and 29,291 by businesses. This was a drop by 6.5% in the number of total insolvencies as compared to the year 2007. more…

Since Amazon started selling their Kindle e-book reader in den USA, Germans more and more discover electronic books as well. 2.2 million people in Germany are currently planning to buy digital books this year. This was the finding of a survey carried out by the Forsa market research institute. more…

Never before there were so many portable navigation devices (PND) sold in Europe as in the year 2008. 18.1 million units of such devices were sold last year which was an increase by 3 million units or 20% as compared to the previous year. In Germany this increase amounted to even 22% last year. With 4.4 million PND sold Germany is the most important market for PND in Europe. These are the findings of a study carried out by the association for research on consumption (GfK). more…

In the fourth quarter 2008 GDP fell by 1.5% on the third quarter in both the Eurozone and the EU27. In the third quarter last year the respective changes had been -0.2% and -0.3% respectively on the second quarter. In comparison with the fourth quarter in 2007 GDP decreased by 1.3% in both European regions. In the third quarter 2008 GDP had still been up by +0.6% and +0.7% respectively as compared to the third quarter in 2007. more…

According to the Federal Statistical Office, turnover generated in the German retail trade fell by 1.2% and 1.3% in nominal and real terms respectively in January 2009 as compared to January last year. Particularly hit were internet trade and mail order business where turnover dropped by 7.5% (nominally) and 8.2% (really). As compared to December 2008, the German retail trade turnover decreased by 0.5% and 0.6% respectively. more…

The key interest rate for the Euro was lowered by 0.5% to 1.50 percent by the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday which brought the rate to its lowest level since the Euro was first introduced in 1999. The new rate will be applicable from March 11th. more…

Many internet users do not carry out online shopping or banking, because they are afraid of security holes in the internet. According to the German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), one in six German internet users even do not carry out any internet transactions at all. About 16 million avoid online banking. The biggest distrust, however, is displayed when it comes to sending important documents: of the 49 million internet users in Germany about 20 million prefer to send them by post instead of by email despite a loss of money and time. more…

According to the Federal Statistical Office, turnover generated in the German wholesale trade business was down by 10.7% in nominal terms in January this year as compared to January last year. The last such drop in turnover had been registered in May 2002. In real terms turnover fell by 5.6%. In comparison with December 2008, turnover decreased by 0.3% (nominally) and increased by 0.6% (really) in January this year after adjustments for season and calendar. more…