The Russian market is of rising significance for German business as Russia has the potential to be the largest market in Europe. As of 2012 it’s estimated that there are 6,300 companies from German with investments in Russia with approximately € 40 billion euro of capital invested.  German companies have helped create over 120, 000 jobs in Russia. In a recent survey Many Germany companies have expressed they desire to increase their investments in Russia.

 German companies are very active with investments in Russia and in fact Germany is only 2nd to Russia's Bric Partner China as the largest invested into Russia, China has been Russia's largest trade partner for the last 2 years. It’s expected that investment in Russia for 2012 will be back up to the record levels that were invested by German companies in 2008.

German companies are showing more confidence in future partnerships with in Russia then some of its more traditional markets in the EU. German companies lead the way in terms of market penetration in Russia where's German companies tend to invest in a wide range of Industry's Companies from China tend to just focus on the Energy sector and  exploitation of Raw Materials Industries. German companies are investing in the retail industry in Food and Non Food, Energy, Transport, Construction, Automotive, Woodworking and Metalworking, Oil and Gas, Logistics and the agriculture industry are all Industries that are attracting German Investment. German companies are always looking to invest with Russian partners who want to modernise and have products which will not just service the demand in the local market but can also be sold around the world. We also see German financial institutions and Banks looking to invest in Russia and its future. 

German retailers such as Aldi and Lidl are looking for acquisitions in Russia and plan to buy Russian assets over the next few years, Other Germany retailers are looking not to just invest in the Food sector but the non-food sector as well. We also see German companies making Greenfield investments in the consumer sector with German companies looking to set up production there.

With Germany not Looking to renew its Nuclear plants when they reach the end of their life so German companies are looking to invest in the Russian Energy and Oil and Gas Industry to secure Germany’s future needs as Germany looks to diversify its Energy mix. German companies RWE and EON are making investments in Russia by investing in Russian Energy suppliers and Russia’s Oil and Gas infrastructure. German giant Siemens is investing $ 1.4 Billion dollars over the next 3 years in Russia, $ 960 million of this investment will be spent in the Energy sector and $ 550 million is going to production facilities to build Gas Turbines and there related services and Support industries. Siemens is also investing in Russia’s transport infrastructure and particularly the Railway industry by joining together in a trade partnership with Russian Partner Company Sinara Group. It’s expected that this Trade Partnership will focus on the production of Cargo and urban commuter trains. To supply these Trains with Drives Siemens will then be building an Industrial Drive production line in St Petersburg to support this.

In 2011 Volkswagen further invested in Russia with a $900 million investment which was the biggest investment then its previous investments since 2006 it makes it the largest automotive investor in Russia and one of the largest overall international investors in Russia.

Russia is Currently Germany’s 12th largest export market and 7th largest country of Imports.