Analysts interviewed by Reuters had expected a monthly increase of 1.1% for both exports and imports.
Goods from China, the source of most German imports in August, were worth € 15.4 billion, up 2.2% from the previous month.
Germany posted a seasonally adjusted trade surplus of € 1.2 billion, well below the projected surplus of € 4 billion.
(Report Miranda Murray, French version Diana Mandiá, edited by Kate Entringer)
