Gas crisis, delivery bottlenecks, shortage of materials: the metal and electrical industry in Lower Franconia is increasingly suffering from what is currently crippling the economy nationwide. Many companies have to reduce production.
This becomes clear from an economic survey that the business association bayme/vbm presented in Würzburg. Accordingly, despite the bad omens, a remnant of confidence can be seen. Almost 38 percent of the companies surveyed in the region want to create new jobs in the coming months. Three percent fear having to cut jobs.
The importance of the metal industry in the region
The situation in Lower Franconia is “tense, uncertain and heterogeneous,” said CEO Martin Johannsmann from the bayme/vbm district of Main and Rhön in a statement. Johannsmann is also CEO of the rolling bearing manufacturer SKF in Schweinfurt. He appealed to the industry: “We must now use every – and indeed every – energy source in order to further reduce our dependence on Russian gas in the short term.”
With 90,000 employees, the metal and electrical industry in Lower Franconia is the mainstay of the economy. In this respect, the mood there is a general indicator.
What the metal companies in the region expect for 2022
And the mood seems to be particularly gloomy at the moment: According to the economic survey, 28 percent of companies expect losses this year or at least be in the black. This value had been lower in the recent past.
Against this background, Johannsmann is pessimistic: “If the general economic conditions continue to deteriorate over the course of the year, more and more companies are likely to be heading for a critical earnings situation.” With a view to the next round of collective bargaining in the fall, he criticized the IG Metall trade union for demanding an 8 percent increase in wages. That will put too much strain on the companies and is “exaggerated and dangerous”.
According to the association, the prospects for 2023 are also bad. Just 8.3 percent of the companies surveyed expect their economic situation to ease in the first half of the year. No company assumes that this will happen in 2022.
In addition to the gas crisis in connection with Russia, the supply bottlenecks in the Lower Franconian metal and electrical industry have been causing the most pain for months. Every third company is now “severely affected”, according to Johannsmann. Every second company is supplied too little. For some products, 33 percent no longer received any deliveries at all.
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