Press release No. N 010 of 24 February 2022

• Trade with Russia in 2021 up 34% on the previous year
• Especially imports grew markedly (+54%) because of higher energy prices
• Crude oil and natural gas accounted for roughly 59% of all imports from Russia

WIESBADEN – Despite growing political tensions, trade between Germany and Russia increased markedly in 2021 compared with the first pandemic year 2020. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that goods to the value of roughly 59.8 billion euros were traded between the two countries in 2021 – 34.1% more than in the previous year. Goods to the value of 33.1 billion euros were imported from the Russian Federation, while the value of exports to that country was just over 26.6 billion euros. Turnover of trade between Germany and Russia thus exceeded the pre-crisis level of 2019 by 3.4%.

Imports higher than exports in 2021 – in contrast to 2020

Especially imports from Russia rose considerably in 2021. They were up 54.2% on 2020. The value of goods exported to Russia in the same period rose, too, though much more moderately (+15.4%). This means that the value of German imports from Russia in 2021 exceeded the value of exports to Russia, in contrast to the previous year. In 2020, Germany had achieved an export surplus for the first time since 1993. One of the reasons was that especially the value of crude oil and natural gas imports had markedly fallen in the first Covid year.

Crude oil and natural gas accounted for 59% of all imports from Russia

Goods traded between Russia and Germany are mainly raw materials, vehicles and machinery. In 2021, Germany imported in particular crude oil and natural gas to the value of 19.4 billion euros – that was a 49.5% increase and accounted for 59% of all imports from Russia. In addition, Russia delivered especially metals (4.5 billion euros, +72.1% on 2020), coke and refined petroleum products (2.8 billion euros, +23.0%) and coal (2.2 billion euros, +153.0%) to Germany.

Germany exported especially machinery (5.8 billion euros, +5.7%), motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (4.4 billion euros, +31.8%) as well as chemicals and chemical products (3.0 billion euros, +19.7%) to Russia in 2021.

Russia accounted for 2.3% of total German foreign trade and was among the 15 most important trading partners of Germany in 2021. Outside the European Union, Russia was Germany’s fourth most important country for German imports and the fifth most important country importing German goods in 2021. For comparison: Most of Germany’s trade outside the EU is with the People's Republic of China (9.5%), followed by the USA (7.5%). Russia’s importance for German foreign trade has decreased in the last decade, however. In record year 2012, which was also characterised by high energy prices, goods traded with Russia had accounted for 4.1% of German foreign trade.

Russian controlled enterprises created turnover of just under 32 billion euros in Germany

The interdependencies between German and Russian enterprises are at a level similar to foreign trade. Enterprises headquartered in Russia accounted for 1.9% of the turnover generated by all foreign-controlled enterprises in Germany in 2019. For comparison: enterprises headquartered in the USA accounted for 17.9% of turnover. There were 164 Russian controlled enterprises in Germany in 2019. They employed just over 8,100 people and generated turnover of 31.6 billion euros.

According to data of the Deutsche Bundesbank, 472 enterprises in Russia were controlled by German investors in 2019. They employed just under 129,000 people and created an annual turnover of well over 38.1 billion euros. This represented 1.5% of the global annual turnover generated abroad by enterprises of German investors in 2019. For comparison: 21.1% of this global turnover by German controlled enterprises was generated in the USA (545.4 billion euros).

Methodological notes:

The statistics of foreign-controlled enterprises cover enterprises domiciled in Germany but controlled by a parent company based abroad. Control is exercised if an enterprise holds more than 50%, directly or indirectly, of the shares of another enterprise.