BERLIN, (Reuters) – German imports declined for the second successive month in September and German exports declined further, according to the statistics office on Tuesday. It is yet another sign of how supply chain disruptions can hinder the recovery Europe’s biggest economy.

The month-end exports adjusted for seasonality fell 0.7% to 112.3 billion euro ($129.75 million), which is lower than economists expected.

Weaker than expected, imports rose 0.1% to 99.2 Billion Euros.

According to seasonally adjusted data, Germany’s February 2020 coronavirus pandemic caused exports to fall by 0.3%, while imports rose 7.8%.

Alexander Krueger from Bankhaus Lampe said that “supply bottlenecks are holding back production which in turn is keeping down exports.” He added that the trend was likely to continue throughout the year.

In September, the trade surplus was 13.2 billion euro, which is much less than it was in the months before the pandemic. It often exceeded 20 million euros per month.

The year-on–year breakdown of trade data indicated that German exports fell by 10%, to 5.7 billion Euros. Imports from Britain declined by 20%, to 2.3 billion Euros.

Exports from Germany to China fell 0.2% compared to last year. However, exports to America jumped 16.2% to 10.8 Billion euros.

Concern is also raised by China’s weaker demand. Supply chains that are more efficient will lead to a growth spurt. Krueger stated that it will take time for this to happen.

These weak data in trade correlated with the Ifo economic survey that revealed October export hopes fell to their lowest level since February, as supply issues have been affecting industrial sectors.

Germany’s economic ministry cut last month its projections for export growth to 8.6% from the 9.2% that it predicted in April. It cited a “historically unprecedented shortage of intermediate products” facing the manufacturing sector.

($1 = 0.8655 euros)