Germany’s energy-intensive industries—manufacturers of products such as cement, glass, or paper—have sharply curtailed production and cut tens of thousands of jobs over the past four years due to rising costs. From February 2022 to March 2026, production shrank by 15.2 percent, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden on Friday. The number of employees declined by 6.3 percent, or 53,300.
Higher energy prices are impacting energy-intensive industries more severely than other economic sectors, as the statistical office explained. It selected February 2022—when Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine began—as its point of comparison; subsequently, energy prices rose massively. In 2024, energy-intensive industrial sectors collectively accounted for 75.6 percent of the total energy consumed by the industrial sector—led by the chemical industry, which consumed just under 28 percent of the total.
The decline in production was most pronounced among manufacturers of concrete, cement, and sand-lime brick products, amounting to more than 29 percent. This segment belongs to the economic sector “Manufacture of glass, glass products, and ceramics, as well as processing of stone and earth materials,” where overall production plummeted by 25 percent. According to statistics, production in both the paper industry and the chemical industry fell by more than 18 percent in each case. In the metal production and processing sector, the decline was somewhat less severe, standing at just under 13 percent.
One exception was the mineral oil industry: here, production rose by a quarter between February 2022 and March 2026. The reason cited was “significant gains” since January of this year.
According to statistics, a total of 847,700 people were employed in energy-intensive industries four years ago. In March of this year, that figure stood at just 794,400. The largest proportional decline in employment occurred in the paper industry, while the drop in the chemical industry was comparatively modest at 5.5 percent.
AFP translated by Blackout News