High energy prices mean German packaging companies will face intense competition from abroad in the third quarter, according to the IK trade association.
Germany's IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen says increases to the EEG allocation (the amount of money companies pay for energy, designed to increase support for renewable alternatives) is making Germany plastic packaging companies suffer. The companies see themselves as being exposed to increasingly harsh international competition on the German market because of the prices, it says.
"The current concept of the energy policy turnaround with its mad costs for industry and consumers that have run out of control must be stopped at once," says IK managing director Ulf Kelterborn. "Else, a number of medium-sized businesses will be unable to maintain their production in Germany."
According to IK, power costs in France, for example, are half of what they are Germany.