The international peace research institute, Sipri, has found that German arms exports have risen significantly over the past five years, even as global arms exports are stagnating. 

Stagnation in the global arms market

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) has found that, over the past five years, global arms exports have stagnated, with the volume of deliveries (by market value) for large armaments between 2016 and 2020 0,5 percent lower than that of the previous five-year period (2011-2015). Despite this, after many years of growth, global arms exports remain high.

From 2016 to 2020, the top five arms exporters in the world were the US, Russia, France, Germany and China. Whilst Russia and China’s exports fell quite significantly compared to the previous period, the US, France and Germany all saw their exports increase.

Germany’s booming weapons trade

Compared to 2011-2015, the total volume of weapons exported from Germany grew by 21 percent in the past five years, perhaps unsurprising given that Germany sold over 1 billion euros worth of weapons in 2020 alone. Germany’s exports in the past five years have accounted for 5,5 percent of the global arms market. Germany’s main customers included South Korea, Algeria and Egypt, with almost half of its exports being ships or submarines.

Greenpeace has criticised Germany’s arms business, labelling the increase as “shameful”. Alexander Lurz, disarmament expert at Greenpeace, has called for the German government to enact an arms export control law. "If Germany wants to take on international responsibility, the federal government must stop exports to countries in which the military and corrupt politicians are promoting their armament fantasies at the expense of the population," he said.