High energy prices are increasingly threatening to have negative consequences for Germany as a centre of industry, the country’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) warned on Thursday.
Citing a survey of businesses, the DIHK said that the trend of industrial companies moving out of the country is becoming ever more pronounced.
According to the survey, four out of 10 industrial companies are currently considering limiting their production in Germany or relocating it abroad entirely due to high energy costs.
Among larger industrial companies with more than 500 employees, more than half are considering such a move. Around 3,300 companies took part in the survey.
Politicians have not yet succeeded in providing companies with prospects for a reliable and affordable energy supply, said deputy DIHK managing director Achim Dercks. “While many companies also saw opportunities in the [green] energy transition for their own business in the years before 2023, the risks clearly outweigh the opportunities in their view,” he said.
The DIHK believes the growing plans to restrict and relocate production, coupled with actual relocations, show that the energy policy location conditions are now a clear competitive disadvantage for all companies in Germany.
This is particularly true for industrial companies with high electricity costs and for large companies, for example in mechanical engineering and the production of industrial goods.
The DIHK called for taxes on electricity to be reduced. The permanent reduction in electricity tax for the manufacturing industry provided for in the government’s growth package should be extended to all sectors.
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