After US companies, German companies are the second largest taxpayers among foreign corporations in Russia. This is the result of a current evaluation by a research institute in Kiev.
Despite the war against Ukraine, German companies are still generating billions in sales in Russia. For the Russian state, this means many millions in tax revenue, according to data from the Kiev School of Economics tagesschau.de present.
$402 million in income taxes
According to this, the profit tax of the 262 German companies in Russia, which was paid in the country, amounted to 402 million dollars last year. The turnover of German companies in the country in 2022 was a total of 23.2 billion dollars. According to the information, these are legal transactions that are not affected by western sanctions against Russia.
Only US companies played an even bigger role among the foreign companies than the Germans: they generated sales of $40 billion and paid a profit tax of $712 million.
Most German companies still in the country
The presence of German companies in Russia has decreased after the beginning of the war of aggression against Ukraine. According to the study, around two-thirds of the German companies that were active before the war are still active in the country.
Overall, the proportion of Western companies that have remained in Russia despite the Russian attack on Ukraine and sanctions is even higher: four out of five companies continue to do business in Russia.
Metro wants to stay, Uniper is going
According to the information, the largest taxpayer among German companies is the retail group Metro, which generated around 3.4 billion dollars in revenue in Russia last year. The company confirmed to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” that its business “fully complies with the requirements of the EU sanctions”. Metro wants to maintain its presence in the country.
The second largest German taxpayer in Russia, the energy company Uniper, had already announced its withdrawal. Uniper still had sales of 1.6 billion euros last year, which even corresponded to an increase of around 20 percent compared to 2021.
Consumer goods industry with the largest sales
Among the various industries, foreign corporations continue to generate a lot of sales in Russia, especially in the tobacco and alcohol business. Japan International Tobacco and the US group Philip Morris are particularly active here.
But consumer goods groups also play an important role. These include the Swiss company Nestlé, France-based Danone and the US groups Procter & Gamble and Pepsico.