Since the late nineteenth century, Germany, which has few natural resources,[25][26] had relied heavily upon Russian imports of raw materials.[27] Before World War I, Germany imported 1.5 billion German Reichsmarks of raw materials and other goods per year from Russia.[27] This fell after World War I, but after trade agreements signed between the two countries in the mid-1920s, trade had increased to 433 million Reichsmarks per year by 1927.[28] In the late 1920s, Germany helped Soviet industry begin to modernize, and to assist in the establishment of tank production facilities at the Leningrad Bolshevik Factory and the Kharkov Locomotive Factory.