Official figures released from Germany have shown that exports were slightly down in August when compared to July.

The Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) said that goods worth €105.2 billion left the country over the 31 days, a 0.1 per cent drop month-on-month.

This reinforced suggestions that the manufacturing industry has been experiencing something of a slowdown during the summer.

However, when the figures were compared to the same month last year, exports had actually risen by 2.2 per cent.

Destatis said the German trade balance for August was €18.3 billion, with German exports to other European countries rising 1.2 per cent and shipments outside the bloc increasing by 3.5 per cent.

Analysts have said they are concerned about exports going forward due to the trade conflict between China and the US, as well as the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

Indeed, a group of think tanks last month published a statement warning trade friction could lead to a "major recession" in Germany.

Essen-based institute RWI said they had cut GDP forecasts from 2.2 per cent to 1.7 per cent amid fears of job losses and decreased productivity.