Press release No. 294 of 12 July 2022
- Exports to Russia up 35.6% month on month
- Exports of pharmaceutical products to Russia: +42.4% on May 2021
- Sharp year-on-year fall in exports of motor vehicles and machinery
- Imports from Russia up 32.8% in value terms, and down 29.1% in volume terms, on May 2021
WIESBADEN – German exports to Russia continued to decrease year on year in the third month after war started in Ukraine. Germany exported goods to the value of 1.1 billion euros to Russia in May 2022, which was 50.9% less than in May 2021. Compared with April 2022, however, German exports to Russia rose by 35.6% (+295.6 million euros). The calendar and seasonally adjusted month-on-month increase was 29.4%.
High growth rates in exports of pharmaceutical products to Russia
The increase from April 2022 to May 2022 is mainly due to higher exports of dosed pharmaceuticals. Such exports of pharmaceuticals from Germany to Russia rose to 215.1 million euros in May 2022. That is an increase of 47.7% on May 2021 and of 60.5% on April 2022. This means that pharmaceutical products were the most important good exported to Russia in May 2022. Total pharmaceutical products rose by 42.4% year on year, reaching 282.0 million euros.
Sharp fall in exports of machinery and motor vehicles to Russia
In May 2021, machinery was the most important good exported from Germany to Russia. Due to the decrease of 52.2% to 279.9 million euros (-305.9 million euros), exports of machinery fell to second place. Even larger decreases were recorded for exports of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers to Russia. Exports of motor vehicles were down by 96.2% (-339.3 million euros) to 13.6 billion euros. Exports of motor vehicles to Russia thus fell from second place in May 2021 to 14th place in May 2022, now ranking even behind German exports of agricultural products (14.4 million euros).
Imports from Russia up 32.8% in value terms on May 2021
In May 2022, the large decline of exports to Russia was again contrasted by a marked increase of imports, in terms of value. The increase is mainly due to price rises – especially in the energy sector. German imports from Russia rose by 32.8% to 3.3 billion euros on May 2021. Crude oil and natural gas were the most important goods imported from Russia with an increase in value terms of 29.3% to 1.9 billion euros. Other important import goods were metal products (+21.7% to 0.4 billion euros) and coal (+254.2% to 0.4 billion euros). The development was contrary in volume terms. In May 2022, the volume of goods imported from Russia was down 29.1% from the same month a year earlier.
The import surplus in trade with Russia amounted to 2.2 billion euros in May. In April it had been 2.9 billion euros.
More information:
All detailed results on German foreign trade in reference month May 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 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).
