Aluminium production in Germany fell significantly again in the second quarter. At primary aluminum smelters, the production volume fell by just under half, and in the in the semi-finished products sector, the decline was in the double-digit percentage range.
AD President Rob van Gils emphasized: "The exodus of the industry has already begun and is gathering pace and is gaining more and more momentum. Industrial value creation and with-it prosperity in Germany are at are at stake. The federal government urgently needs to take countermeasures. It is not a question of permanent subsidies, but about a bridge. And more than 60,000 jobs in the aluminum industry. We welcome the announcement by the Federal Chancellor that structural energy prices in Germany to a competitive level through structural measures, but we cannot rely on this alone. Time is pressing and if large parts of the industry are gone, they won't come back. With all the consequences for industrial value creation and independence of the country."
The production of raw aluminum fell by 14 per cent in the second quarter to about 748,000 tons. After the first half of the year, output stands at just over 1.5 million tons (-13 per cent).
The production of primary aluminum in the period from January to June fell by 50 percent compared to the same period last year - the smelters produced about 98,000 tons. Before the they produced almost three times as much.
The semi-finished aluminum processing sector, with just under 595,000 tons in the second also recorded a significant drop (-12 per cent) in the second quarter. The decline was due both to the producers of extruded products (-16 per cent) and producers of rolled products (-11 per cent).
In the first half of the year a total of 1.2 million tons of semi-finished products were produced in Germany (-10 per cent).
Van Gils continues: "Germany will be the only industrial country not to grow this year. This should give us all pause for thought - fundamentally. The production and conditions for production and investment must be significantly improved. The current weak economic situation is giving us a hard time. Demand from important customer industries such as the construction and mechanical engineering continues to decline. And the upswing seems further away than ever. The worry lines are deepening.
Source: Home - Aluminium Deutschland
