Economy
Electric industry expects production minus and job cuts
Germany’s electrical and digital manufacturers see themselves another difficult year. The industry association calls for a bundle of reforms. From day one, the new federal government must deliver.
Decorative of production and personnel reduction: The doldrums in the German electrical and digital industry also last in 2025. “Entrepreneurs need confidence. Turning the mood is the most important task of the new federal government,” warns the President of the Zvei industry association, Gunther Kegel.
At the price-adjusted production of electrical and electronic goods “Made in Germany”, the Association of the Electrical and Digital Industry expects a minus of two percent in the current year. So the slump would at least not be quite as deep as last year. But cone is restricted: “We don’t see a trend reversal at the moment, at most the first sign of hope.”
Many companies have not yet taken the necessary steps to reduce personnel. “It will certainly be different with the cloudy outlook for 2025,” says the ZVEI president. “The industry now catches up with what was suspended in 2024 due to the principle of hope.”
Nevertheless, he hoped for largely stable number of employees with a maximum of one or two percentage points loss. “Whether this is true depends very much on the political events in the next few weeks and months,” says Kegel.
Too many regulations, too high taxes
Kegel, which leads the Mannheim sensor manufacturer Pepperl+Fuchs, emphasizes: “Germany’s industrial location is over -regulated and too expensive. It hinders entrepreneurial initiative and has lost international competitiveness.” For 15 years now, global production has been growing more dynamic than the local, Germany is threatening the “dawning”.
Too much bureaucracy brakes innovations in this country that corporate tax pollution must be “reduced to an internationally competitive level”, the ZVEI demands. Electricity prices are also too high: the electricity tax must be reduced to the European minimum rate for all consumer groups – private households, trade, trade and services.
Last year there was plenty of dampers for Germany’s electric and digital manufacturers:
Less manufactured: The price -adjusted production broke up by more than nine percent from January to November for the same period last year. The balance sheet is even worse than the production forecast corrected downwards in October made it possible. For the whole year 2024, after ZVEI capital, sales of around 223 billion euros-after EUR 238 billion a year before, will be sold abroad: electrical exports gave up four percent from January to November 2024. All important sales markets turned into the red, including the two largest markets of China and the USA.
Hope for the new federal government
“In order to avoid another recession year, the upcoming federal government urgently has to act,” warns Zvei President Kegel. “We need an efficiency – not only technologically, but in particular politically and regulatory: less bureaucracy, more freedom for entrepreneurship, more space for innovations.” The new federal government must ensure “from day one” for new confidence in Germany.
Review and outlook Zvei Zvei production forecast 15.10.2024
dpa
Source: Stern
