Cologne: According to Germany's federal foreign trade body BFAI, China will wrest the "world's champion exporter" title from Germany as early as 2008.

BFAI Director Gerd Herx said, "Already this year, China will overtake the US as the world's number two exporter and fight neck-and-neck with Germany for the number one position."

He said, though Germany would just succeed in holding onto the title for the fifth year in a row in 2007, china's estimated $1.4 trillion dollars in exports in 2008 would enable it leapfrog Germany in 2008.

Germany's export strength lies in high value engineering and technological goods, while China has used low-priced electronics goods for its exports thrust into global markets, a sector it dominates with $300 billion worth of exports, way ahead of the US and South Korea. Apparels and textiles are its second-largest exports.