Germany is on track to record record exports of military equipment this year, largely due to arms deliveries to Ukraine, figures released Monday by the finance ministry in Berlin showed.

In the first three quarters of the year, the federal government has already approved exports worth 8.76 billion euros, in other words more than the whole of 2022 (8.36 billion euros).

This is the second highest amount in Germany’s post-war history.

It was surpassed only by orders of 9.35 billion euros in 2021, when the previous coalition government under Angela Merkel was in power for most of the year.

According to the data made public yesterday, Ukraine accounts for over a third of approved exports (3.3 billion euros). Which means that authorized exports of military equipment to the country where Russia invaded in February 2022 more than quadrupled compared to the same period last year.

Exports to EU and NATO states, as well as to other allies of Berlin (Japan, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand) amounted to 4.3 billion euros. Most of this amount (1.03 billion) was allocated to Hungary, a member state of NATO and the EU, which is in the process of rearmament.

In other so-called third countries, outside the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, excluding Ukraine, 1.16 billion euros of arms exports had already been approved by the end of September, a figure higher than all of last year (992 million).

The main buyer in the category is South Korea (€251 million). Apart from Ukraine and South Korea, none of the so-called third countries are among the top ten destination states for German military equipment.