Economy Ministry posts Russian-German trade turnover figures

The trade volume between Russia and Germany amounted to EUR12.2bn in thefirst half of 2002, which was 2.3 percent higher than in the correspondingperiod of last year, the press service of the Russian Ministry of EconomicDevelopment and Trade reported due to a visit of German President JohannesRau, who is to arrive in Russia today by invitation from Russian PresidentVladimir Putin. The amount of Russian exports dropped by 9.3 percent toEUR6.8bn, because of low prices for Russian energy exports, while importsgrew by 25.6 percent to EUR5.4bn. The Ministry points out that thebilateral trade turnover may exceed EUR25bn by the end of this year.The share of energy sources in the structure of Russian exports to Germanywas 76.6 percent. Other raw material exports had a 15.4 percent share. Some7.1 percent were ready goods. Machine and equipment exports were a bit morethan one percent.The main part of Russian imports from Germany was machines and equipment(53.3 percent). Chemical imports had a 16.6 percent share in the structureof Russian imports from Germany, metals and metal goods had 6.7percent,products of the wood-processing and paper-and-pulp industries had 3percent, textile and footwear 4.3 percent.Germany is among leaders in the volume of investments in the Russianeconomy. The amount of accumulated German investments was about $7.1bn atthe end of June 2002, which was 18.8 percent of the total volume of foreigninvestments in Russia. According to this figure, Germany tops the list offoreign investors. The amount of accumulated direct investments was morethan $1.5bn at the end of June 2002, which was 8.2 percent of the totalvolume of direct investments in Russia. According to this rate, Germanyranks the fifth after the USA, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Great Britain.Germany invested mainly in the following Russian industries: machinebuilding, electronics, chemical, timber, textile, food, medicine,agriculture, construction, transportation, tourism and others. Cur! rentlyabout 2,500 companies with German capital are operating in Russia..