A strong surge in exports has helped Germany's international trade performance to exceed expectations during August 2016.

Official data from the federal statistics office Destatis has revealed that firms exported €102.3 billion of goods during August, an increase of 5.4 per cent over July, when exports took a major hit following the UK's vote to leave the European Union.

This was the largest rise since May 2010, with the recent stabilization of the economy in China proving a positive development for German producers of capital goods.

Meanwhile, imports increased by just over three per cent to €80.1 billion, resulting in a €22.2 billion trade surplus, up from €19.4 billion in July. This exceeded the Reuters consensus forecast of €20 billion.

This comes after data released last week showed a surge in orders for German industrial firms in August, suggesting the third quarter of the year could be stronger than expected, although the global outlook remains fragile.

Thomas Schilbe of HSBC Trinkaus said: "This is a welcome amendment. But world trade remains very weak. And there are new risks - for instance that of a hard Brexit."