Germany: Increase in Russian imports despite sanctions

An increase is observed in the first half of 2022 in the imports of Russian goods to Germany despite the strict sanctions against Moscow. The same is not true the other way around.

What exactly has happened to Russian exports to Germany since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine until now? Not perhaps what one would expect given the severe sanctions already imposed on Moscow.

Despite sanctions against Russia, the value of goods imported from Russia to Germany rose sharply in the first six months of 2022, according to new data released today by the German statistics office.

This increase is impressive, it reaches 51%, a percentage that translates into a volume of transactions that reaches 22.6 billion euros. According to the first analyses, this increase is due to the higher prices of oil and natural gas in the international market.

Reduction of German exports to Russia

At the same time, however, if one looks at the matter in reverse, the value of German exports to Russia, in the same period, decreased significantly. According to the German statistics office, Germany exported 8.3 billion euros worth of goods to Russia in the first half of the year – that is, 34% less than last year.

It is worth noting that according to the German statistical office, the most important goods that Germany exported in the first half of this year were vehicles of various categories and mechanical spare parts.

The most important imported goods – apart from natural resources – were chemical products mainly from China for the production of plastics but also medicines as well as technological data processing systems.

Dimitra Kyranoudis, Berlin (destatis.de)

Source: Deutsche Welle