MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd June, 2023) Germany's exports to Russia declined by 36.7% to 700 million Euros ($770 million) in May year-on-year, downgrading Moscow on the list of Berlin's non-EU trading partners to the 16th position from the fifth, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Thursday.
"Germany's exports to Russia dropped in May 2023 compared to May 2022 by 36.7%, to 0.7 billion euros," the statistical office said in a statement.
Russia now ranks 16th on the list of non-EU countries where Germany supplies its goods and services. In February 2022, before the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, it was fifth on the list.
Meanwhile, Germany's total exports to non-EU countries in May totaled 59.1 billion euros, down by 2.3% year-on-year, the statistics showed. Destatis recorded a major decline in German exports to South Korea (-15.3%) and Switzerland (-9.8%) over the same period. At the same time, Germany has boosted exports to India (+16.2%), Mexico (+16.7%) and Turkey (+18.5%), according to the statistical office.
In early 2022, Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its military operation in Ukraine. In February 2023, the EU blocked the transit of European goods and dual-use technologies through Russia in the 10th sanctions package to prevent sanctions evasion. In May, the EU said that its exports to Russia fell by 55% compared to 2021 levels, and Russian imports to the bloc shrank by almost 60% as a result of the sanctions.
