GERMANY: Optimism drops in manufacturing export outlook

The export expectations for German manufacturing clouded over a little this month, recording its third consecutive drop, falling to 9.2 balance points in June from 10.4 points in May, according to the Ifo Business Survey of the Munich-based economics institute.

The increase in exports continued to weaken and the expansive effects of the euro depreciation are slowly disappearing, the Ifo Institut said.
Export dynamics lost impetus in nearly all of the key branches of German manufacturing including automotive manufacturing, the chemicals industry and mechanical engineering.
Companies nevertheless expect export business to grow slightly. Companies from the metal production and processing branch reported an improvement in international sales opportunities, the Ifo survey concluded.
The Ifo Export Expectations are based on around 2.700 monthly reports from manufacturers. Companies are asked to report their export expectations for the next three months. They can describe their expectations as "increasing". "unchanged" or "declining". The balance value of their projections is the difference in the percentages of "increasing" and "declining" responses.