70 percent of German industrial companies expect serious energy price strains
Clean Energy Wire
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its growing conflict with the West is leading to increasing uncertainty and concern in Germany’s business sector, with 70 percent of industrial companies now expecting serious energy price strains, according to a survey by the German Economic Institute (IW). In its survey of 200 companies during the first week of the war, the IW found that 62 percent of them expect either large or very large burdens as a result of increased energy prices. Among industrial firms, that figure was 70 percent. The escalation of the conflict has also led to growing concern among German companies about gas supplies in Germany. About a third of the companies expect problems due to a lack of gas supply.
Many companies not only use gas as an energy source, but also as a raw material in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Accordingly, 37 percent of industrial companies expect more frequent burdens due to the lack of gas. Companies also expressed concern over supply chain disruptions in Ukraine, where software providers and automotive parts suppliers have been forced to stop work. As a result, 31 percent of companies (and 39 percent in the industrial sector) expect canceled deliveries to become a burden.
"The war is not only bringing incredible suffering to the people in Ukraine, it is also destroying part of the economic basis of life and the economic production potential," said IW economic expert Michael Grömling. “The problems that Europe experienced as a result of the corona pandemic are being exacerbated by Putin’s war of aggression. The economic recovery is now dragging on.”
