Press release No. 200 of 12 May 2022

• Large decreases recorded for machinery (-73.6%) and chemical products (-40.9%)
• Imports from Russia up 77.7% on March 2021 due to higher raw material prices
• Value of crude oil and natural gas imports rose by 56.5% year on year, while volumes imported fell by 27.8%

WIESBADEN – German exports to the Russian Federation slumped in March 2022 due to the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that goods to the value of 1.0 billion euros were exported to Russia, which was a decrease of 58.7% compared with March 2021. In February 2022, exports to Russia had increased by 16.7% on the same month a year earlier. Large decreases were recorded in March 2022 for exports of machinery, which dropped by 73.6% to 165.8 million euros compared with March 2021, and for exports of chemical products, which fell by 40.9% to 158.7 million euros.

The import development was contrary to that of exports. Due to increased raw material prices, imports from the Russian Federation to Germany rose by 77.7% to 4.4 billion euros in March 2022 from March 2021. Crude oil and natural gas were the most important goods imported from Russia with an increase in value terms of 56.5% to 2.4 billion euros. The volume of crude oil and natural gas imported from Russia, however, dropped by 27.8% in March 2022 compared with March 2021. Other major import goods were metals (import value: +117.3% to 0.8 billion euros; imported volume: -19.2%) and coke and refined petroleum products (import value: +203.5% to 0.5 billion euros; imported volume: +26.0%).

As a consequence of these developments, imports exceeded exports in trade with Russia by a record 3.4 billion euros in March 2022. In February 2022, the excess of imports over exports had been 1.4 billion euros.

Trade with Ukraine: exports decreasing more strongly than imports

German exports to Ukraine, which was under attack from Russia, dropped by 45.7% to 265.8 million euros in March 2022 from March 2021. Imports from Ukraine to Germany decreased by 27.5% to 199.6 million euros over the same period. Germany thus recorded an export surplus of 66.2 million euros for its trade with Ukraine.

More information:

All detailed results on German foreign trade in reference month March 2022 are available in the GENESIS-Online database (tables 51000). The foreign trade results also form part of the Crisis Monitor (www.destatis.de/krisenmonitor), by means of which the Federal Statistical Office compares the development of major short-term indicators in the Covid-19 crisis and the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. They are also available on the “Corona statistics" webpage (www.destatis.de/corona) and in the Dashboard Germany (www.dashboard-deutschland.de) (only in german), together with other indicators which can be used to assess the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dashboard Germany portal of the Federal Statistical Office combines up-to-date indicators of official statistics and indicators of other data providers on the topics of economy and finance as well as health and mobility.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the related sanctions have an impact on many parts of the economy and society. We have compiled data and information on the subject for you on a special webpage (only in german).