But the unequivocal export leader is Indonesia, where harvesting pythons is a highly organized business.
Ruggero Chiminello, chief executive of Torneria Ferraro, a small precision manufacturer based in Cassola, Italy, said his company had seen about a 10 percent rise in demand for the last quarter of 2009 and first quarter of 2010, largely emanating from Germany, Europe's export leader.
As for Germany's role as world export leader, according to Kurt Lauk, head of Christian Democrats' economic council, the country's current weakness suggested that over the next decade it could probably sink to a middling place in the global top 10.
The Evoque is a very successful export leader so there is no reason why that can't happen in the future.
In 2004 the footwear industry, for long an export-leader, was overtaken; the number of shoes that left Italy for foreign markets was less than the number that Italy imported.
"What can be wrong about accepting a deal that will slash tariffs on American exports?" Union leaders assert that the deal will not bring about increased exports but an exodus of American factories to China using low-wage Chinese labor to produce for the American market.
Some of his most enthusiastic and financially generous supporters from 1998 have soured on him, especially some of the Chinese-Americans and some of the export-conscious business leaders whose backing was crucial to his win.
As with export dependence, some Chinese leaders are starting to see the danger and have moved to slow bank lending.
Europe is Beijing's biggest export market, and Chinese leaders have a declared interest in avoiding a financial meltdown in the European Union that could set off a world recession.
What's also interesting — and something EF co-founder Matt Clifford noted on a brief call with me on Friday — is that India has long-been a source for tech talent generally but this has often been an export industry, spanning prominent leaders of major U.S. tech companies, right down to traditional development outsourcing.
