German exports to Britain collapsed by roughly 30 percent year-on-year in January, Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported on Tuesday, citing provisional data.

Britain exited the EU customs union and the single market at the turn of the year, meaning that some sectors now face customs duties controls on goods.

With the coronavirus crisis, Brexit already took a heavy toll on trade between Britain and Germany in 2020, when German exports to the departed EU member state sank by 15.5 percent, to €66.9 billion.

This was the sharpest decline since the financial and economic crisis of 2009 (minus 17 percent), Destatis said.

German exports to Britain have steadily declined since the 2016 Brexit referendum, in which 52 percent of British voters opted to leave the bloc.

(dpa/NAN)