BERLIN -- China remained the biggest export country for Germany's electrical and digital industry in 2021, the country's Electro and Digital Industry Association (ZVEI) said on Monday.

The industry's exports to China increased by 7.5 percent to 25.1 billion euros ($28.5 billion) last year, according to ZVEI. The United States ranked second, with exports up 10.2 percent year-on-year at 19.1 billion euros.

Total exports by Germany's electrical and digital industry reached 224.6 billion euros last year, exceeding pre-crisis levels in 2019 by 4.6 percent, according to ZVEI.

Exports to other European countries in 2021 recovered strongly by 11.4 percent to 144.9 billion euros, while the industry's exports to Asia grew 7.1 percent to 49.4 billion euros.

Because exports by Germany's electrical and digital industry to Asia only declined 1.7 percent in the first pandemic year of 2020, "there was less to catch up on," said ZVEI chief economist Andreas Gontermann.

According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), total foreign trade revenues between Germany and China increased by 15.1 percent year-on-year to 245.4 billion euros.

For the sixth year in a row, China was Germany's most important trading partner in 2021.