	west german exports to u s drop sharply west german exports to the united states fell below four billion marks worth in january for the first time since mid provisional bundesbank data showed the figures showed exports were billion marks in january sharply down from december s billion and the lowest since the billion exported to the u s in july this compared with billion marks in january total west german exports to western industrialised countries also fell in january to billion marks from december s billion also posting the lowest monthly total since july west german exports to the european community were billion marks in january down from billion in december and billion in january last year the figures showed exports to developing nations and centrally planned economies also slackened separately commerzbank ag said in a report that the focus of west german exports this year was likely to shift to europe because of an expected downturn in growth in the dollar area this was one of the strengths of west german exports compared with japan which depended in large part on the u s opec and developing country markets it added reuter 
