Germany: Brexit pushed exports to UK down 2.5% last year

BERLIN (AP): German exports to the U.K. dropped another 2.5% last year, the first full year of Brexit, following a huge decline in 2020 in the first stage of the coronavirus pandemic, according to official figures released Friday.

Exports from Germany, which has Europe’s biggest economy, totaled 65.4 billion euros ($73.1 billion) in 2021, according to preliminary figures from the Federal Statistical Office. It said that the drop, which followed a 15.3% drop in 2020, was a result of Brexit.

Britain left the European Union’s single market and customs union on Dec. 31, 2020, 11 months after it had formally left the bloc’s political structures.

Between January and November, the period for which full figures are currently available — German exports to the U.K. were 2% lower than a year earlier and imports were off 7.7%, the statistics office said.

The U.K. was the No. 8 destination for exports in that period, down from No. 5 in 2020. It dropped from 11th to 13th in the list of sources of imports.