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UK firms have missed out on a rebound in trade with Germany last year, as Brexit frictions and the pandemic continue to weigh on the economy.
New data from the Federal Statistical Office shows that imports from the UK into Germany tumbled by 8.5% during 2021, the first year since the Brexit free trade deal was agreed in late December 2020, to €32.1bn.
But other countries did much better. Total goods imports into Germany surged by 17.1% during the year to €1,202bn, as the easing of lockdown restrictions and vaccine rollouts spurred the global economic recovery last year.
That included a 16.8% rise in imports from Germany’s fellow European Union members, and a 20.8% rise in imports from China last year.
In December alone, German imports from the UK were down 18.2% year-on-year — as there was a rush…