Germany exported goods worth 9.3 billion euros (9.8 billion U.S. dollars) to China in May, an increase of 10.5 percent year-on-year, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Tuesday.

China remained Germany's second most important export partner after the United States, according to Destatis. German exports to the United States recovered by almost 50 percent to 13.6 billion euros.

As in previous years, motor vehicles and parts were Germany's most important export goods, accounting for 15.3 percent of total exports with a value of 210.2 billion euros, according to the data.

China has become the most important single market for Germany's car industry. Of the 1.8 million passenger vehicles delivered worldwide by the country's largest carmaker Volkswagen in the first quarter, more than 753,500 went to customers in China.

At the same time, container handling with China at Germany's largest port Hamburg increased 6.2 percent year-on-year to 0.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). "China strengthened its position as Hamburg's most significant trading partner by a wide margin," the port said.

This comes as disruptions to global supply chains have reached the North Sea. Ongoing container ship congestions have continued to cause heavy delays at ports in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

International trade was "again suffering more from the congestion and delays in container shipping," said Vincent Stamer, trade expert at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), earlier this month.

Rising prices as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and increased supply bottlenecks are weighing on the recovery of the German economy, according to IfW Kiel. The institute recently lowered its 2022 economic outlook to 2.1 percent.

"As soon as the supply bottlenecks ease," the country's industry could work off the high order backlog, the institute said. In this case, exports could increase again by 3.4 percent in 2022 and by 6.5 percent in 2023. (1 euro = 1.06 U.S. dollars)