New Year’s Eve rockets and fireworks are on display in the showroom of fireworks company Weco. Weco reports high sales figures.
The year will soon be coming to an end and it’s time to set off fireworks. What some people consider superfluous is a million-dollar business for Weco: the company is Germany’s last major fireworks manufacturer.
Eitorf (dpa) – Despite the subdued economy, Germany’s largest fireworks company Weco expects people to spend more money on rockets, firecrackers and other pyrotechnics this year. ‘The quantity available in the retail trade is estimated to be a fifth larger than last year,’ says Weco’s sales manager Oliver Gerstmeier in Eitorf (NRW), referring to the company’s own volumes and industry figures. In the past two years, fireworks were almost sold out in the retail trade, which is why the range has now been significantly increased. ‘Fireworks are more popular than ever before.’ The amount that can be sold on the last three sales days of the year. What is not sold then goes back to the fireworks companies.
Recently there have been hardly any returns
It is still unclear whether the additional pyrotechnics will actually sell well in supermarkets, discounters and other points of sale. In the years before corona, the return rate was a fifth – so that’s how much the fireworks companies had to take back. However, after the coronavirus years, when fireworks were banned on New Year’s Eve 2020 and 2021, the returns rate was almost zero, says Gerstmeier. ‘In many shops, the goods were already sold out on the first day of sale.’
However, the Weco sales manager cautions that it is difficult to forecast sales this year, as the general economic downturn and concerns about jobs are dampening the mood of many consumers. According to Gerstmeier, the prices for fireworks have risen because the freight rates for imports from China have become expensive.
From an economic point of view, however, he has no concerns for his company’s business, because looking at the past decades, the rule of thumb is: ‘The tighter the coffers are, the more fireworks are bought – many people find this very important to end the old year well and start the new year well.’
Criticism of fireworks
Environmentalists are critical of fireworks because they release fine dust and produce waste. According to Weco, it has largely switched from plastic to paper and cardboard in order to minimise plastic waste. Animal rights activists, on the other hand, warn of the consequences of the crackling and firework lights for birds and wild animals, which can be startled and injured or have their hibernation disturbed.
