Pharmaceutical industry

and 620 companies. Domestic sales accounted for 54 percent of the revenue and represents the industry’s biggest market. The nonferrous metal industry is divided into the following stages of the value chain: production (raw metal), semi-finished products (ribbon, sheets, rods, profiles, pipes and wire), further processing (foil, thin ribbon, tubes, aerosol cans, other cans and powder), casting and hot-dip galvanising. From January to June 2022, the aluminium industry produced 448,000 tonnes of raw aluminium, 21 percent less than in the same period last year. The production of semi-finished aluminium products amounted to 1.3 million tonnes in the same period, remaining steady year on year. Production in the aluminium further processing segment expanded by seven percent compared to the first six months of 2021, going up to 178,000 tonnes. The copper industry saw production drop to 716,000 tonnes, a decrease of three percent compared to its dynamic performance in the first half of 2021. The biggest segment here, the production of semi-finished rolled extruded and drawn products, recorded a six percent decrease in production in the first six months of 2022 compared to the high volume of production last year, going down to 422,000 tonnes. The manufacturers of lead, zinc, nickel, tin and other nonferrous metals produced 322,000 tonnes in the first six months of 2022, eleven percent less than in the first six months of 2021. The nonferrous metal foundry industry produced 414,000 tonnes of cast parts in the same period, six percent less year on year. Overall, the nonferrous metal industry anticipates production to continue its downward trend towards the end of the year.

A new era: Germany net importer of semi-finished products for the first time

In the first six months of 2022, the nonferrous metal industry recorded foreign sales of 18 billion euros. This corresponds to a decrease in the export quota to 46 percent. Germany has been a net importer not only of ores and concentrates but also of crude metal for many years. This means that the country imports considerably more crude metal than it exports, reflecting the dependence of German industry on imports from abroad of some raw metals such as aluminium, nickel, zinc, tin and several rare metals. In the first six months of 2022, imports of raw metal increased by nine percent year on year, going up to 2.1 million tonnes. Exports of raw metal, on the other hand, dropped ten percent to 491,000 tonnes. Germany has been a net exporter of semi-finished products for several years. In the first six months of 2022, imports of semi-finished products exceeded exports for the first time. Exports contracted by a hefty eight percent, down to 1.2 million tonnes, while imports grew by a sizeable nine percent to 1.3 million tonnes.

Contact: Oliver Eisenberg / Phone: +49 30 726207 167 / E-Mail: oliver.eisenberg@kupfer.de

Pharmaceutical industry

The pharmaceutical industry is moving in line with the overall economic slowdown and has lost momentum. After a dynamic start to the year, the production of pharmaceuticals is not likely to decrease in the year overall, but growth will be lower than last year.

The main reason for the high output at the turn of the year 2021/22 was the massive growth in the production of vaccines, but this has been scaled down substantially since the early summer. As the production levels return to normal output next year will also be lower. The potential increase in the demand for vaccines over the winter may trigger an interim high for pharmaceutical products as indicated by the recent pronounced pick-up in production and domestic orders. This will not necessarily