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Figure 11. Structure of Germany’s exports to the BRIC countries
Machine
30
Automotive
22
Electro-technical
17
Chemical
15
Other
17
0 5 10 15 20 25 30[%]
Source: Ch. Römer, Marktposition der deutschen Wirtschaft in den BRIC-Staaten, IW-Köln Trends,
No. 3/2011, p. 9
The structure of German exports to the BRIC countries seems to confirm
this thesis. The major role is played by the traditional branches of
the German export, i.e. the machine, automotive, electro-technical and
chemical industries. Each of these industries (apart from the chemical) accounts
for a higher value of the exported goods than the exports of goods produced
by industrial sectors other than the ‘big four’. For this type of company,
entering the emerging markets became unavoidable, as investment demand
had stagnated in the old EU countries due to the much weaker needs for infrastructure
modernisation. Moreover, the dynamic economic growth in the BRIC
countries has in a way forced these companies to expand onto foreign markets,
and many of them, in order to remain global leaders, have had to move to new
markets which are increasingly promising in the global perspective. Pressure
on the part of large corporations was the third element. In Germany there exists
a network of very strong relations between companies promoting longterm
partnerships. This is why the expansion of large German corporations
onto the emerging markets forced smaller suppliers to follow their customers,
otherwise they would have lost some of their major sources of income.
Figure 12. The share of German products in the BRIC countries’ imports
35 [%]
Machine
Automotive
30
25
30.6
Electro-technical Chemical
22.1
20 18.6
18.7
15
15.7
16.3 16.3
13.1
10.8
10
9.3
6.5
5.3
5.1
5
3.1
5.5
0
China Russia India Brazil
Source: Ch. Römer, Marktposition der deutschen Wirtschaft in den BRIC-Staaten, IW-Köln Trends,
No. 3/2011, p. 9
11.3
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