Compared with the previous quarter, Germany’s merchandise trade exports grew 0.7%, close to the G7 average, while strong domestic demand boosted imports by 8.6%. On a year-on-year basis, German trade volume growth was the highest of all G7 countries. Exports rose 11.4% while imports grew an impressive 15.4%.
In the United States, quarter-on-quarter trade exports stagnated at 0.2%, while imports showed moderate growth of 1.4%. On a year-on-year basis exports were up 6.0% in the first quarter of 2007 and import volume growth, at 2.1%, was below G7 average.
Japanese merchandise export growth, at 2.0%, was the highest of all G7 countries compared with the previous quarter. In contrast, import volumes declined by 3.3%, the highest negative value of G7 countries. Year-on-year, trade volumes changed little with export volumes up 1.8% and imports stagnating at 0.3%.
Trade in Goods and Services Values
Export growth of goods and services in OECD countries, measured in current US dollars, slowed slightly to a seasonally-adjusted 2.3% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2007. On the other hand the growth in imports rose to 2.5% in the same period.
In value terms, for both trade in goods and trade in services, import growth exceeded the growth in corresponding exports in the first quarter.
Year-on-year OECD export value growth for goods and services slowed to 13.8%, while import growth decreased to 11.5%.
