German firms dependent on Russia 'moderately'

German firms dependent on Russia only moderately, despite the fact that Russia is a major trading partner of Germany, said German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) Thursday. The Wiesbaden-based office noted that about 10 percent of all exporting enterprises sell goods to Russia. For 73 percent of these firms, export to Russia accounts for no more than a quarter of their total exports. Within all importing companies in Germany, about 1 percent purchase goods from Russia. "The dependency of businesses on Russia is moderate," said Destatis in a statement, while admitting that for firms which import, mainly crude oil and natural gas, from Russia, the dependency is higher. Nearly half of imports from Russia are made by enterprises for which imports from Russia account for at least three quarter of its total imports. The figures were released as there were debates in Germany about its stance on economic sanctions on Russia. The German government supported punishing measures on Russian officials including bank account freeze and travel bans, and threatened to pose economic sanctions on Russia if crisis in Crimea escalated. Some economists and companies warned that the sanctions would also hurt German economy, as 6000 firms operate in Russia and Germany needs Russian oil and gas for filling its power gap before completing its ambitious energy transition. With a total trade volume of 76.5 billion euros (104.8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2013, Russia ranked as the 11th biggest trading partner of Germany. Within the total German crude oil and natural gas imports, 31 percent came from Russia, according to Destatis. In March, German enterprises' morale fell after growth for four straight months due to the events in Crimea, Munich-based market research institute Ifo said. Another research institute GfK also warned that German consumers confidence would also be sapped by the tense between western countries and Russia. "Germany cannot afford to cease trade with Russia entirely in the short-term," said Erdal Yalcin, an expert from Ifo.