The German government approved the export of $4.5 billion worth of armaments in the first 10 months of 2021, says the Economic Affairs Ministry data.

According to the data, the value of weapons and other defence items exported by Germany between January 1 and November 3 equalled €3.78 billion.

Of that, 27 per cent went to countries outside the European Union.

Such exports are controversial due to the poor human rights records in some destination countries.

The information was released following a request made by Sevin Dagdelen, a lawmaker with the hard-left party Die Linke.

The report has been seen by dpa.

German arms exports had a record year in 2019, with weapons worth more than $8 billion delivered to overseas customers.

That shrank to €5.82 billion in 2020.

Based on the information released, the number is set to shrink by 17 per cent in 2021.

However, there is no available export information for the first 10 months of 2020, making a direct comparison impossible.

The largest market for German defence products was the U.S., which ordered €948 million worth, followed by the Netherlands (€721.6 million) and Britain (€190.1 million).

Next on the list is Egypt, a country that has been criticised in the past for its involvement in regional conflicts, which spent €181.1 million on German weaponry.

Fifth place went to Brazil, which spent €134.1 million.

(dpa/NAN)