Wittenberg (dpa/sa) - The workforce of one of the largest fertilizer producers in Germany, SKW nitrogen works Piesteritz in Wittenberg, is threatened with short-time work. The employees have no understanding that politics is playing with the industry, said a company spokesman on Thursday with a view to the gas levy. The ammonia plants are already shut down. It is currently not worth starting up an ammonia plant that is available again. The company would lose as much in a month as it makes in profit in a year, the spokesman said.
In view of the gas crisis, there is now a complete production stop. Nothing has been produced for days, and employees are threatened with short-time work. According to the spokesman, October 1st is in the room.
A spokesman for the company said on Wednesday in Wittenberg that the reason was the extremely high gas prices and the gas surcharge. The energy crisis is hitting the company extremely hard because production requires a lot of gas. SKW is expected to have to pay a gas surcharge of EUR 30 million per month. That cannot be done financially.
