Industry Report | Industrial production and trade in the individual industries 13/06/2022
327,000 tonnes. The copper industry saw production grow to 1.5 million tonnes in 2021, which represents an increase of six percent compared to the weak performance in 2020. The biggest segment here, semi-finished products of copper and copper alloys, displayed dynamic growth of twelve percent in 2021 compared to 2020, with production up to 849,000 tonnes. The manufacturers of lead, zinc, nickel, tin and other nonferrous metals produced 673,000 tonnes in 2021, which is four percent less than in 2020. The nonferrous metal foundry industry produced 806,000 tonnes of cast parts in 2021, five percent more than in 2020. Higher energy prices and a limited availability of commodities will definitely have an impact on production in the upcoming months. Germany net exporter of semi-finished products and net importer of crude metal The foreign revenue of the nonferrous metal industry in 2021 amounted to 31 billion euros. This corresponds to a slight decrease in the export quota to 47 percent. Germany is a net exporter of semifinished products. The export-oriented semi-finished products industry profited from increased foreign demand of five percent up to 2.5 million tonnes. Imports stood at 2.2 million tonnes, which represents a 15 percent increase on the previous year. On the other hand, Germany is a net importer not only of ores and concentrates but also of crude metal. This means that the country imports substantially 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 2021, imports of raw metal increased by ten percent compared to the previous year, going up to 3.6 million tonnes. Exports of raw metal recorded robust growth of six percent to one million tonnes. Russia is an important supplier of nonferrous metal commodities for the German nonferrous metal industry, particularly nickel, aluminium and copper. Some imports from Russia cannot be replaced by other markets in the short term. Companies in the industry have already turned down orders because of the lack of planning reliability regarding the supply of Russian commodities. The entire industry is deeply concerned about the ongoing migration of these orders to Asian competitors, for example.
Contact: Oliver Eisenberg / Phone: +49 30 726207 167 / Mail: oliver.eisenberg@kupfer.de
Steel and metal processing: first quarter production 1.8 percent down year on year The production of steel and metal processing companies in Germany in the first quarter of the year was 1.8 percent down year on year. Compared to the previous quarter, however, production was up by 5.4 percent marking an end to the recession (both the third and fourth quarter of 2021 were negative quarter on quarter). This was further substantiated by an increase in production of 5.6 percent in March, the month the war started, over February. This confirms that the start of the conflict in the Ukraine will at most have a low direct impact on activity in the industry. With the spiral of sanctions that has since set in, the risks of a significant impact have increased. A disruption in the supply of gas from Russia in particular would have a massive impact on the companies in this industry as well as upstream and downstream supply chains. After an initial shock in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the business climate among steel and metal processing companies in Germany settled down a little in April. While the escalation in hostilities do not appear to have had a tangible effect on the companies’ assessment of the current business situation, companies are 9.8 index points less sceptical regarding the next six months. The prevailing mood is still pessimistic, with downwardly adjusted forecasts from the automotive industry
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