Interruptions in gas supply not only jeopardize production and around 500,000 jobs in steel and metal processing industries, according to Hubert Schmidt, president of the German Steel and Metal Processing Association (WSM). The industries of their clients are also at risk, he said. "The WSM supports the government's demand for an immediate halt to the war of aggression and the sanctions against Russia and Belarus", he said. But companies also need a secure energy supply and immediate financial and bureaucratic relief. Those responsible would have to reduce bureaucratic obstacles and shorten approval procedures, for example for new infrastructure projects. The WSM also calls for rapid financial relief for mostly medium-sized companies in the face of escalating gas and electricity costs.
"Politicians must largely free energy prices from government surcharges," says WSM CEO Christian Vietmeyer. He added that the cost explosion also requires supply chains to "understand cooperative steel and metal processing products." If the government does not react immediately now, this will affect almost all sectors. Steel and metal processing companies alone provide around 500,000 jobs.