In the first quarter, German trade with countries outside the eurozone grew more than with its partners in the 17-nation bloc, official data showed on June 2.
German rose 18.8% in the three months to March to 260.8 billion euros (US$375 billion) while imports were 20.9% higher, compared with the same period a year earlier, at 220 billion euros, the Destatis statistics office said.
Germany is the world's second biggest exporter, after China.
Exports to other eurozone and European Union countries gained 14.7% and 16.6% but exports to other, so-called third countries, jumped 22.3%.
China, Russia and Turkey led the countries that took in substantially more German goods.
Imports presented a similar picture, with countries such as Brazil, India and Russia posting increases of more than 35% in shipments to Germany, almost double the average of its eurozone partners at 17.7%.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
