China overtook Germany as the world’s top exporter last year, data compiled by Global Trade Information Services Inc. show.

China shipped products worth $958 billion in the first 10 months of 2009, while Germany sold goods worth $918 billion to customers abroad, according to an Internet database operated by Columbia, S.C.-based GTI. Exports from China exceeded German shipments every month since April last year, data show.

China has already slipped past Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy and is forecast to overtake Japan this year, assuming the No. 2 spot behind the United States. Exports have driven a 15-fold increase in China’s economy to more than $3.8 trillion since the nation opened its doors to foreign trade and investment in 1978.

Chinese exporters weathered the worst global recession since World War II better than their German counterparts, GTI’s figures suggest. Exports from China fell 20 percent in the first 10 months of 2009, according to the GTI database, while shipments from Germany tumbled more than 27 percent.

Emerging economies performed better than developed nations in 2009 and that trend may continue this year, with gross domestic product in China and Brazil likely to grow at least 4.8 percent, according to Bloomberg News surveys of economists.

That’s almost double the 2.6 percent projected for the United States and four times the 1.1 percent growth predicted for the euro region. Germany’s central bank forecasts growth of just 1.6 percent for Europe’s largest economy this year.

Chinese export growth is nevertheless fueling political tensions with the United States and Europe, which both say the country is employing tactics that give it an unfair edge and break global commerce rules.

Chinese products were the target of more dumping cases worldwide than all the other nations combined, according to World Bank data. European Central Bank Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi wrote in the Financial Times on Jan. 4 that China must embrace a “more balanced” exchange rate regime.

The Obama administration last month criticized China’s plan to give companies that make innovative products an advantage in the race for government contracts, saying these preferences are among policies, including tax rebates, export restraints, unique standards and so-called Buy China regulations.