FRANKFURT (AFP) - Germany's trade surplus fell in May by much more than expected to 14.4 billion euros (22.6 billion dollars), provisional data released on Wednesday by the national statistics service Destatis showed.

The figures were more evidence that Europe's biggest economy has hit the brakes, and several analysts now feel it will have contracted in the second quarter of the year.

Germany, also the world's leading exporter, had posted a trade surplus of 18.8 billion euros in April, Destatis said, revising its previous estimate slightly higher.

Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a drop in May to 17.6 billion euros last month.

Exports declined to 80.8 billion euros in May from 89.7 billion a month earlier, with the vast majority going to fellow European Union countries.

Imports fell to 66.5 billion euros, from 70.9 billion.

In trade with non-EU nations, German exports rose by 4.2 percent in May on an annual basis to 28.3 billion euros, while imports, including oil and other sources of energy, shot up by 13.3 percent to 23.2 billion euros.

The country's current account surplus, its widest measure of trade and financial transactions with the rest of the world, was cut by more than half to 7.5 billion euros from 15.5 billion in April.

After initially withstanding an economic downturn that has hit major trading partners such as the United States, Germany is now coming in for a sharp slowdown of its own, data shows.

On Monday, industrial production figures for May marked the biggest drop in almost 11 years, the economy ministry said, prompting several analysts to forecast that gross domestic product had contracted in the second quarter.

"Risks to our already lowered second quarter GDP forecast of minus 0.4 percent are clearly on the downside," said Commerzbank analyst Matthias Rubisch.

Capital Economics economist Jennifer McKeown said evidence was mounting that the German economy would slow sharply from a surprising strong first quarter, and added: "An outright fall seems increasingly likely."

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