After the start of the war: German exports to Russia more than halved

German exports to Russia more than halved in March due to western sanctions resulting from the war against Ukraine.

They collapsed by 57.5 percent compared to the same month last year to 1.1 billion euros, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday.

"As a result, the Russian Federation was only twelfth among the most important destinations for German exports outside the EU in March," it said.

In February she was fifth.

Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24, prompting the West to impose severe sanctions.

Among other things, these provide for export restrictions.

Experts see no end to the downward spiral, especially since the EU Commission followed suit in April and put together what is now the fifth package of sanctions.

For example, this provides for targeted export bans to Russia worth billions – for example for the most modern semiconductors, precision devices, means of transport and chemicals.

"We will see a sustained decline in trade with Russia," economist Klaus-Jürgen Gern from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) told Reuters news agency.

“The problems are getting worse because Russian trucks and ships are no longer allowed into the EU.

Trade, which can still take place now, is drastically hampered by this.” Switching to EU transport companies is hardly possible because they are overworked and there are no drivers – for example from Ukraine.

"Many companies can deliver somewhere else"

The expert considers the negative consequences for the German economy to be limited, especially since trade with Russia has fallen sharply in recent years.

"German exporters can get over it at the moment," said Gern.

“They have very high order backlogs and don't have to search desperately for sales markets.

Many companies can also deliver the production elsewhere.”

Overall, German exports to countries outside the European Union - so-called third countries - fell in March by 7.2 percent compared to February to 52.8 billion euros.

Compared to March 2021, however, they grew by 3.2 percent.

The USA was once again the most important customer for German exporters.

Goods worth 13.5 billion euros were exported there, an increase of 21.0 percent compared to the same month last year.

According to the IMF forecast, the world's largest economy will grow strongly by 3.7 percent this year.

Goods worth 10.2 billion euros were exported to the People's Republic of China, 1.0 percent less than a year earlier.

Exports to Great Britain decreased by 0.3 percent to 6.4 billion euros.

The export economy is anticipating a difficult year overall.

"The war in Ukraine is putting a massive strain on German foreign trade," Dirk Jandura, President of the BGA industry association, recently warned.

"The medium- to long-term effects are hardly foreseeable so far." The German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) sees it similarly, which also points to the corona wave in China.

"The economic consequences of the Russian war in Ukraine and the renewed intensification of production and logistics disruptions in China are shaking world trade," emphasized DIHK foreign trade chief Volker Treier.