German engineering exports to Russia fell by almost 27 per cent in the first nine months of the year to €3.58 billion ($3.78 billion) as Western sanctions took their toll, the industry association VDMA said on Thursday.

VDMA managing director Thilo Brodtmann said that, if the trend continued, Germany would ship only around 5 billion euros' worth of goods to Russia this year.

That is in line with VDMA's prediction in June that engineering sales to Russia would drop by between a quarter and a third due to the sanctions and Russia's economic woes.

Brodtmann said he did not expect exports to Russia to pick up significantly next year either, because the order situation was "very critical".

Last year, German engineering exports to Russia fell by 17 per cent to €6.48 billion ($6.84 billion). - Reuters