The exorbitantly high energy prices are a major burden for Covestro and other energy-intensive companies, says CTO Klaus Schäfer.
(Photo: Covestro)
Stuttgart, Dusseldorf Family entrepreneurs and managers of energy-intensive companies are calling for the federal government’s protective shield against the energy price crisis to be implemented quickly. The measures would come late, but for some sectors “hopefully not too late,” Klaus Geißdörfer, head of the fan manufacturer EBM Papst, told the Handelsblatt on Friday.
You yourself are not so exposed to the gas price increase, explained Geißdörfer. “But our component suppliers – especially in injection molding and aluminum casting with high energy costs in the process – are severely affected.”
Covestro Chief Technology Officer Klaus Schäfer also remarked: “The exorbitantly high energy prices are a major burden for us and other energy-intensive companies.” it was still around 600 million euros.
Now it is important to design the planned gas and electricity price brake in such a way “that the relief reaches consumers and industry as quickly and specifically as possible and gives them the air they urgently need to breathe”.
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However, the energy markets should not be destabilized by an intervention. Time is of the essence. “We can’t afford another stalemate like the gas levy,” said Schäfer. EBM-Papst boss Geißdörfer also explained that it “depends very much on the final design”, which is not yet known. “The three-party coalition is still acting much too slowly,” he criticized.
On Thursday, the Berlin traffic light coalition announced the various measures of its defense shield. This not only includes a gas price brake for a basic tariff, but also special help for small and medium-sized companies that would otherwise not be covered. In addition, no additional bureaucratic hurdles should be created for companies, according to the document from the federal government.
>> Read here: The text of the traffic light resolutions
The German cabinet took significantly longer than the governments in countries such as France, Spain and Portugal or Great Britain and Austria, which have long introduced a gas price brake or are in the process of introducing one.
Above all, however, the energy-intensive sectors, such as the chemical, food and steel industries, can now breathe a sigh of relief. The entrepreneurs and managers surveyed by the Handelsblatt rate it positively that both consumers and companies are relieved.
The family business cannot do without gas as long as there is not enough green hydrogen for the energy-intensive industries.
(Photo: Schmees)
Clemens Schmees, Managing Director of the Schmees stainless steel foundry in Langenfeld, sees the protective shield as “the only solution for the competitiveness of the industry, but also for social peace”. However, much unrest could have been avoided if the gas price brake had not been necessary earlier and the discussions about the gas levy had not been necessary.
Business margins are shrinking
Customers have already migrated to Spain, for example, where the gas price brake already exists. His company will still be dependent on gas for a very long time, even if he has already saved 18.5 percent.
Tobias Metten, junior boss of the meat products manufacturer Metten based in Finnentrop, Sauerland, says about the gas price brake: “In our view, it is not too late.”
Scholz: “Gas allocation is no longer needed”
Metten is the market leader for canned sausages in Germany. A lot of gas and electricity is required to produce these and make them durable. Smaller and medium-sized manufacturers in particular cannot fully pass on the additional costs to retailers. This is how the margins of the companies shrink.
Metten demands “that the systemically relevant food industry must benefit from the energy price dampening in the long term in order to ensure the supply of the population in the long term”. Politicians must provide the help quickly and as unbureaucratically as possible.
A commission of experts will not announce details until mid-October
Entrepreneurs still have to wait for that. According to the government’s original document, the expert commission will not announce details until mid-October. So the Metten junior boss waits and sees.
It really shouldn’t take too long, says Johannes Pöttering, Managing Director of Unternehmer NRW: “Now it’s a matter of quickly and effectively implementing the announced measures.” the coming years”.
Entrepreneur Schmees believes, however, that the announcement of the gas price brake will calm the nerves somewhat. What if the defensive screen hadn’t come? “I don’t even want to think about that,” says Schmees.
More: Government plans “defense shield” of up to 200 billion euros against high energy prices