China has served as Germany's most important trading partner for six consecutive years, Germany's statistics office said on Friday as it releases the 2021 data.  

Bilateral trade increased by 15.1 percent year-on-year, as goods worth 245.4 billion euros ($279.1 billion) were traded between the two countries in 2021, data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed.

The Netherlands and the United States ranked as Germany's second and third most important trade partners, with trade volume of 206.1 billion euros and 194.1 billion euros, respectively. Trade volumes jumped by 20.1 and 13.4 percent respectively, compare with the COVID-19 pandemic induced slump in 2020. 

"Turnover of trade with China, in contrast, had gone up by 3.5 percent in 2020," Destatis noted in a press release. 

Most German imports arrived from China in 2021, value of goods imported worth 141.7 billion euros, an yearly increase of 20.8 percent.

The U.S., China and France are the top three destinations for German exports in 2021.

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