Regardless of the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, German companies are doing good business in and with the countries of Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

German trade with the region rose to almost 280 billion euros or 13.7 percent in the first half of the year.

Measured by Germany's worldwide exchange of goods, which increased by 20 percent, the growth was below average.

Andreas Mihm

Business correspondent for Austria, Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey based in Vienna.

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The Eastern Committee, which represents the interests of the companies operating in the region, was nevertheless satisfied.

A solid result in Central Europe has compensated for the losses in the Russian business, trade with Central Asia has picked up and sales with the war-torn Ukraine have also gone better than expected.

According to data from the Federal Statistical Office, exports to the 29 states that comprise the Central Asian countries of the CIS rose to 135 billion euros from January to June.

Imports of 145 billion euros exceeded the value mainly due to the increased cost of supplying oil, gas and coal from Russia.

However, the deficit is likely to decrease over the course of the year because the EU intends to significantly reduce energy imports from Russia in the second half of the year.

Belarus exports shrink

The import bill from Russia alone amounted to 23 (previous year 15) billion euros in the first half of the year, while exports fell to 8 (after 13) billion euros.

The minus was increased by 230 million euros due to exports to Belarus that also shrunk.

However, the expansion of exports to Poland and the Czech Republic by 10 billion euros alone more than compensated for these declines.

Poland has once again underlined its exceptional position for German trade with the East.

With a trade volume worth 81 billion euros, it maintained its 5th place in the ranking of the most important trading partners behind France and ahead of Austria.

German companies transacted a trade volume of 56 billion euros with the Czech Republic, which pushed Great Britain from tenth to eleventh place.

If you add Hungary and Slovakia, Germany traded goods worth 187 billion euros with this group of Central European countries alone in the first half of 2022 – far more than Germany traded with its most important partner China, at 149 billion euros.

Extremely strong percentage increases, albeit at a low level, underlined the great potential in trade with the populous and resource-rich Central Asian countries of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, analyzed the East European Committee.

Oil and gas-rich Azerbaijan, on the other hand, has benefited from increased exports of raw materials to Germany, and the trade value measured in euros has more than tripled.

East Committee Managing Director Michael Harms was satisfied with the comparatively stable development in Ukraine trade, which had only fallen by eleven percent despite the war.

German imports from Ukraine even fell by only 5 percent.

"German companies in the less war-affected areas are doing everything they can to keep production and business going," Harms said.

The supply of supplier parts for the German automotive industry, which was interrupted when the war began, is working again, and Ukrainian agriculture is also working hard to keep crop failures as low as possible and to keep transport routes open.

He warned against writing off Ukraine as an investment location.

"What is crucial is a cleverly structured, transparent reconstruction plan with clear target agreements."

On the other hand, he criticized the debate in the EU to make it more difficult or to stop the issuing of Schengen visas to Russian citizens, as requested by Ukraine.

Russian citizens who still want to travel to the EU should be encouraged and not discouraged.

Harms, on the other hand, even called for visa facilitation, "particularly to smooth the way for Russian specialists to enter the EU."