Electroplating and surface technology is a key technology; numerous industries are fundamentally dependent on its services, and a standstill in the industry means a standstill in many other industries. At the same time, the surface technology sector is dominated by medium-sized companies, predominantly family-owned or owner-operated, and employs around 440,000 people across Europe, 62,000 of them in Germany. For 2022, the ZVO expects a return to the pre-Corona industry volume of 8.6 billion euros in sales.
The ZVO expressly welcomes the decision to implement the gas and electricity price brake from January 1, 2023. However, it considers some of the framework conditions envisaged so far to be critical from the point of view of an energy-intensive industry, such as the assessment year 2021, which has a detrimental effect on companies. It also criticizes the fact that the gas and electricity price caps are insufficient to enable companies to remain competitive. In addition, the energy cost containment program only helps to a very limited extent due to the bureaucratic effort that is hardly feasible for SMEs. The ZVO is therefore calling for, among other things, a reduction in levies, an acceleration of approval procedures and the introduction of a uniform electricity price throughout Europe.
Find the entire report here (free access)!