BERLIN, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Germany's foreign trade prospects will brighten in the coming months despite the likelihood of a further rise in the euro against the dollar towards record levels, the BGA exporters' association forecast on Tuesday.
At a news conference in Berlin, BGA president Anton Boerner said the weakness of the dollar was creating "certain problems" and that auto firms, makers of machinery and equipment and the chemicals sector were being hit harder than most.
Overall, though he said trading activity would continue to pick up despite a monthly fall in exports in August.
"I'm quite convinced we'll continue to make up ground in the remaining months of this year," said Boerner, adding that the upwards trend would continue into next year. However, having suffered a sharp decline in the months following the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers last September, German exports would not return to their 2008 levels until 2012 at the earliest, Boerner said.
This year, exports would decrease by some 18 percent, before picking up again in 2010 by up to 10 percent, the BGA said.
In spite of the dollar weakness, Boerner said the fact that some 80 percent of German goods sold abroad were factored in euros meant it was important to keep things in perspective.
Over the coming months, the euro-dollar exchange rate would rise above $1.50 and "test the $1.60 mark" before settling somewhere between $1.45 and $1.55, he said.
Despite their "close link to the dollar" newer markets like China were helping to make up for losses sustained in transatlantic trade, Boerner said.
German imports would likely fall by around 15 percent this year, and rise by about seven percent in 2010, the BGA said.
(Reporting by Dave Graham)