China may surpass Germany as world's biggest exporter

[pampango]

Source: China Central TV

Despite the sluggish demand from overseas, China will probably surpass Germany as the world's largest exporter in 2009, said the Ministry of Commerce.

"It's very likely that China will take over Germany this year as the world's biggest exporter and that the share of China's exports in world exports will rise to nine percent this year from 8.86 percent last year," he predicted.

According to the World Trade Organization, during the first half of 2009, China had, for the first time in the past seven years, edged narrowly ahead of Germany in exports. China and Germany exported goods worth $521.7 and $521.6 billion respectively during the January to June period.

Economists predicted such momentum will be sustained during the second half of 2009 and the years ahead.

Read more: http://english.cctv.com/20091228/101923.shtml

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China has been gaining on Germany for a long time. It looks like 2009 might be the year that China passes Germany. The US remains the number 3 exporter; China and Germany are just changing places at numbers 1 and 2.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Germany exports expensive stuff and China exports inexpensive stuff. nt

[DavidDvorkin]

2. China is doing what the US did in the late 19th Century

It worked for us.

[Romulox]

15. That time in US was known as "the Gilded Age". Many say we are in a new Gilded Age today.

So your comment really depends both on the meaning of "worked" and "us". :shrug:

[DavidDvorkin]

20. China is having its own Gilded Age, in a way

So the parallels continue.

[Historic NY]

9. I don't buy a lot of Mercedes....seriously just what do they send here?

I can't think of much beyond the auto world & food products.

[Romulox]

16. Optics, scientific, pc chip fab, musical equipment, personal care stuff (Braun, e.g.)

These are just things that I have in my household...

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

17. The Airbus A319 and A321 are built in Hamburg

and very popular among US airlines,

[girl gone mad]

18. My vacuum cleaner is German made.

Miele. It's excellent. I think they moved production to China not long ago, though.

[pampango]

19. According to this, it's all still made in Germany.

http://bizcovering.com/international-business-and-trade/miele-proof-that-globalized-products-can-have-value/

"Because Miele keeps its production in Germany, it can have much more control over manufacturing, and this makes the products more reliable and of higher quality in the end.

[girl gone mad]

21. Good to know.

I went through several cheaper vacuums before buying the Miele. What a difference! I've had it for years and it still works like it did the day I bought it. Investing a bit more upfront paid off and the article rings true to my experience.

[Crowman1979]

3. All thanks to the Bush Crime Family for making this possible!

:sarcasm:

[bossy22]

7. hey...dont forget

we must also thank that good ole' pegged yuan....nothing helps your exports like depreciating your own currency

[onehandle]

4. Warm up that Chinese resume, people. nt

[KansDem]

5. Come to think of it, not too many items marked "Made in Germany" in Target these days.

I don't know about WalMart since I don't go there, but would imagine it's the same way...

[On the Road]

6. Probably Because the Exchange Rate

makes it less advantageous for Europeans good to be sold in the US. Per Wikipedia, most of Germany's main export partners are in Europe:

France 9.7%, US 7.1%, UK 6.7%, Netherlands 6.6%, Italy 6.4%, Austria 5.4%, Belgium 5.2%, Spain 4.4%, Poland 4% (2008)

For China, the numbers are:

EU 20.4%, US 17.7%, Hong Kong 13.4%, Japan 8.1%

[La Lioness Priyanka]

8. i already thought china was the worlds largest exporter

[pampango]

12. It's pretty amazing that Germany exports as much as China with 1/15 the population and high wages

and benefits as typical of European countries. Germany's population is about 80 million, while China's is 1.3 billion. The US exports about 80% as much as China, with a population of about 300 million or about 1/4 that of China.

[DavidDvorkin]

10. German export numbers are misleading

Or so I was told years ago by a coworker (with a PhD in economics, so I took him seriously). He said that a major part of German exports actually go to France, and vice versa, putting those two countries higher on the exporter charts than they really should be. They're both exporting, but to each other rather than to the world.

[valerief]

11. I wish we had fair trade laws and could export to our neighbors, too. nt

[pampango]

13. Germany has free trade with France (and 25 other European countries) just like we have with

Canada and Mexico.

[Romulox]

14. Wonder if they have depressed wages, massive unemployment, and shrinking industrial output

just like we have. :shrug:

[showpan]

22. Of course China is the largest exporter

since all of our manufacturing companies have moved there. This wasn't only Bushco's fault, it was also the fault od democratic neocons too, they have united. Most of America is still in denial.