The greater their own energy requirements, the greater the concerns of companies in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the wake of the impending energy crisis as a result of the Russian war of aggression.
Schwerin (dpa/mv) - The impending shortage of gas and the high energy prices pose particularly great challenges for some companies in the north-east. In addition to the fertilizer manufacturer Yara in Rostock and the iron foundry in Torgelow, this also includes the bakeries and confectioneries in the state.
According to a representative of the Yara plant in Rostock, the price of ammonia - an important raw material for fertilizer production - on the world market is five to six times higher than before the start of the war in Ukraine. The reason: To produce ammonia, you need natural gas. According to the explanations, the location is only indirectly affected and the higher purchase prices can be passed on, but even that has its limits. Farmers already have to pay almost three times as much for the finished fertilizer and they too have to pass this on to their customers.
According to the Bakers' and Confectioners' Association (BKV), bakers in the northeast are also looking at the acute danger of a gas shortage with a dose of fatalism. The association estimates the proportion of member companies that produce their baked goods in a gas oven at 40 percent, without the fossil raw material nothing works here.
According to BKV Association Managing Director Jan Loleit, there is almost no scope for significant gas savings, investments in electricity-powered stoves are also expensive, and only a few of the affected companies can currently afford this. But the gas situation is not the only concern. According to Loleit, the price shock due to the sharp rise in energy prices has already hit the majority of bakeries, so only a few are lucky enough to have longer-term supply contracts.
The iron foundry in Torgelow is already suffering acutely from the high energy prices. As the new owner Silbitz Group announced, the operation was only taken over at the beginning of November 2021, so it was not possible to conclude long-term energy contracts. The exploding energy costs are therefore almost 100% effective at the site. According to the company, the longer the problem persists, the greater it becomes: "Due to the rising energy prices and the attempt to pass them on to our end customers, not only the location in Germany, but also the location Europe loses its competitiveness."
In the short term, operations could continue even in the event of an acute gas shortage, but only temporarily: One is dependent on suppliers who use gas as an energy source to manufacture their products.
