South Baden handicraft businesses are registering higher sales, but are groaning under rising purchase and energy prices. This is shown by a survey by the Chamber of Crafts.
“There are currently enough challenges for the craft businesses in the region,” says Handirk von Ungern-Sternberg, member of the management board of the Freiburg Chamber of Crafts. The chamber presented survey results on the economic situation in its district to media representatives on Tuesday. It includes the districts of Ortenau, Emmendingen, Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and Lörrach as well as the urban district of Freiburg with a total of more than 15,000 craft businesses and almost 100,000 employees. While companies are struggling on many fronts, sentiment isn’t too bad.
A year ago, in the middle of what was ultimately a months-long “breakwater lockdown”, the Chamber’s economic indicator, the balance of the business situation and expectations, was a meager 6.1 points. The value is currently 27.2 points. Despite the significant improvement, there are still almost ten points missing from the pre-corona level. According to Ungern-Sternberg, the craftsmen are currently struggling with inflation, delivery bottlenecks and the lack of staff, which are further aggravated by Corona regulations, as well as a certain loss of confidence in politics. “The immediate halt to KfW funding that was recently announced, which came as a complete surprise, and the subsequent roll backwards were another blow to the neck in an already tense situation,” said Ungern-Sternberg.
“90 percent of companies are currently reporting significantly higher purchase prices,” explained Chamber President Johannes Ullrich, who runs his own painting business in Freiburg. This is an unprecedented record value. In many cases, these increases can only be partially passed on to customers, so that there is additional pressure on the operating result. In addition, the state’s policy is increasing the cost burden, for example in the case of energy prices. “Here it hits the bakers hard, for example, who now have to heat their ovens with much more expensive electricity,” said Ullrich.
Against this background, the prospect of higher sales is also put into perspective. “Every third company reports increasing sales”, clarified Ungern-Sternberg, “last year it was only around every fourth.” But that doesn’t mean that the craftsmen are now earning a lot – the higher procurement prices would eat up some of the higher proceeds again.
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