German exports fall for first time in five months

German exports fell in July for the first time in five months, according to provisional data from statistics agency Destatis, adding to concerns about the recovery in Europe's biggest economy.

Exports dropped 0.8 percent from June to 138.2 billion euros, or $160.5 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected a 0.5 percent decline.

Destatis said shipments to China fell 9.5 percent and exports to other eurozone countries fell 2.8 percent. Exports to the United States, Germany's biggest goods market, rose by more than 19 percent from the previous month after earlier weakness linked to tariff measures by President Donald Trump.

Imports fell 5.7 percent in July to 116.9 billion euros. Germany's trade surplus widened to 21.3 billion euros.

The export figures followed weaker-than-expected industrial production data for July. Several think-tanks last week raised their forecasts for German growth this year to between 1.2 percent and 1.4 percent.