While the fear of war led to price turbulence on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Tuesday, many Hessian companies are worried about the economic consequences of the Ukraine crisis and possible economic sanctions.

Because the ties between companies from Hesse and Russia are close.

According to data from the State Statistical Office, goods worth around 4.27 billion euros were imported from Russia to Hesse last year, and Hessian exports totaled around 976 million euros.

This makes Russia one of the state’s most important trading partners when it comes to imports, with Russian goods and goods accounting for 3.9 percent of total imports to Hesse in 2020.

The largest part consists of energy raw materials, which is why regional energy suppliers such as Entega in Darmstadt, Mainova and Süwag in Frankfurt, Evo in Offenbach and ESWE in Wiesbaden are following the conflict with concern.

Even if they don't buy the gas for their customers directly from Russia, but from local intermediaries, there is widespread fear that the crisis will cause the already high energy prices to rise further.

The filling level of the German gas storage facilities, on the other hand, is sufficient in any case to get through this winter, according to Entega, for example.

How great the fear of economic consequences is is shown by inquiries from numerous medium-sized companies active in Russia, who are reluctant to make statements out of concern that their statements could damage business relationships, as they told the FAZ.

Type and extent of possible sanctions not yet known

The current situation is also being observed with increased attention at Messe Frankfurt, it is said.

However, the concrete effects on international business are not yet foreseeable, since the type and scope of possible sanctions are not yet known.

Messe Frankfurt has had a subsidiary in Russia since 2002, where 50 employees are involved in organizing trade fairs in Russia and acquiring customers for the company's global events, as Messe Frankfurt Managing Director Detlef Braun reports.

The trade fair company in Russia holds 17 events with around 3,900 exhibitors and 155,000 visitors in regular times outside of the pandemic, according to Braun.

A number of trade fairs are planned in Moscow from March.

Since the events are primarily aimed at a regional market, it has so far been assumed that they could take place.

According to the company, the involvement of the Frankfurt airport operator Fraport AG at Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg, Russia, is not currently affected by the escalation of the Ukraine crisis.

Fraport has a 25 percent stake in the Northern Capital Gateway LLC consortium.

In 2010, Fraport was awarded the contract to operate and expand the airport for 30 years.

Among other things, a new terminal building for international passengers was built.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa and other airlines have suspended their flights to Kiev and Odessa in Ukraine for the time being.

Russia was seen as a promising market for Opel

The carmaker Opel is also closely monitoring Russia's military advances in eastern Ukraine.

The Rüsselsheimer sell their vehicles in both countries.

Some of them come from Russian production, as the company announced when it returned to the local market almost three years ago.

“Russia is a large, strategically important and attractive market with a lot of potential.

As a German brand with a long tradition and an excellent reputation in the country, we will benefit from this,” Opel announced at the time.

Four years earlier, the Rüsselsheim-based company had given up Russia, which had previously been considered a promising market and where Opel once sold 100,000 cars a year.

At that time, new car sales had fallen sharply as a result of the collapse of the ruble and the economic misery in eastern Ukraine after the war.

In 2018, the brand entered the Ukrainian market and pinned high hopes on this and the return to Russia.

After Germany, Russia is the most important market for the Bad Vilbel-based pharmaceutical group Stada.

433 million euros, or 14 percent of total sales, were generated there in the 2020 financial year.

The company has invested more than one billion euros there, and more than 3,000 people work there.

Nevertheless, says a spokesman, the current conflict is unlikely to have any impact on business.

Because Stada produces for the respective markets directly in the countries, export and import would therefore not be disturbed much by possible trade sanctions.

In any case, drugs are often exempt from sanctions.