Energy supply and high prices are obstacles to production and investment by German industrial companies, so more and more of them are considering moving abroad, according to a survey by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce DIHK.

A little more than a third of the surveyed companies are thinking about reducing production or moving abroad, according to a DIHK survey that included 3.300 companies. A year ago, their share was 31 percent, and in 2022 it will be only 16 percent.

In the sector of energy-intensive companies, 45 percent of them are considering this option.

"The confidence of the German economy in the energy policy has been seriously damaged", concluded the deputy executive director of the DIHK, Achim Dercks. The government has not convincingly shown companies the prospect of reliable and affordable energy supply, Dercks added.

"Anyone who does not see this will eventually witness the deindustrialization of our country," he emphasized.

The government's package of measures, which should provide a more favorable environment for industrial production, is not enough, the head of DIHK estimates, and does not contain solutions for energy supply and prices, and these factors are currently key for many companies .

Due to high energy costs, more than a third of industrial companies in Germany are reducing their investments in core processes, according to DIHK research, and two-thirds of them believe they threaten their competitiveness.

The Ministry of Economy proposed subsidizing electricity prices for industry last year, but the Ministry of Finance opposed the proposal and threw it in the trash after the Constitutional Court's decision on the unconstitutional spending of money from the pandemic fund forced the ruling coalition to reduce spending in the budget of the year 2024.

In the conditions of price pressures and reduced production, a quarter of companies are reducing investments in climate protection as well. Their attitude towards the energy transition has fallen to a very low level, announced DIHK.

"By 2023, many companies saw the energy transition as a business opportunity, but the risks, in their opinion, have definitely outweighed the benefits recently," said Dercks.