German exports expanded 17.1 percent in the first six months on a yearly basis, greatly promoted by bulk orders from major developing countries, the Federal Statistical Office said Tuesday.

Latest data showed that Germany's dispatches to European Union (EU) member States climbed 12.0 percent to 279.8 billion euros ( 358.2 billion dollars) from January to June, while exports to economies outside the EU surged 26.2 percent.

Analysts said German exports, the country's main economic engine, was to a large extend powered by emerging countries, such as China and Brazil, in the background of international financial crisis and global economic downturn since 2008.

In the first half of 2010, German companies sold 55.5 percent more goods and services to China than one year earlier. Its deliveries were valued at 25.2 billion euros, the office said.

Exports to Brazil soared by 61.3 percent to five billion euros and to Turkey by 38.8 percent to 7.3 billion. On the European continent, a strong increase in dispatches was observed to Portugal and Sweden, which jumped 26.5 percent and 25.1 percent separately.

However, some analysts believed that Germany's robust exports would slip back a gear in the second half, followed by a slowdown in global production activity and trade, especially in the markets of the United States and Asia.

The Ministry of Economics and Technology said earlier that German factory orders unexpectedly shrank 2.2 percent in July, which was dragged down by a 3.7-percent slump in foreign orders.

The office said that German imports also rallied 15.0 percent to 383.6 billion euros in the first six months. China has become the country's largest supplier followed by the Netherlands.

Imports from China reached 34.6 billion euros, an increase of 35.6 percent year on year, the office said.