Fear is spreading in the chemical industry.

“We have long warned that production will be shut down and companies will pull out altogether.

And that is exactly what is happening now,” says Wolfgang Große Entrup.

The general manager of the Association of the Chemical Industry (VCI) describes the situation dramatically in an interview with the FAZ.

Small and medium-sized companies in particular have their backs to the wall.

"We have a great many who are literally screaming for help."

Bernd Freytag

Business correspondent Rhein-Neckar-Saar based in Mainz.

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According to him, most supply contracts for gas and electricity expire at the end of the year, and it is often simply impossible to finance connection offers.

The necessary prices for the end products cannot be achieved on the world market.

The gas prices of the American competition are just as high as the planned gas levy in Germany.

More and more companies would be forced to shut down further production.

"Not temporarily, when they're gone, they're gone," he says.

When the supply chains break

According to Große Entrup, value chains are now beginning to tear.

Ammonia, urea, Adblue, hydrochloric acid, preliminary products for the pharmaceutical industry, even basic chemicals are becoming scarce.

"The connections become obvious and clear".

Nevertheless, the political situation is still underestimated.

There is a lot of activism, many commissions, but the necessary help is not arriving.

And a lot of what has been promised, such as the unbureaucratic "fuel swap", which enables companies to switch their operations to oil at short notice, is not yet working.

The industry association wants to turn to Berlin this Monday with its dramatic appeal and a whole list of demands.

In order to gain time and curb electricity prices, all power plants must first be connected to the grid.

Also the existing coal and nuclear power plants.

Even if, as Grosse Entrup says, it is unavoidable that the national CO2 budget will be exceeded in the short term.

On top of that.

More help is urgently needed.

The gas surcharge must be reconsidered and co-financed from the federal budget.

Together with other surcharges, it leads to additional costs of 4 billion euros for the chemical industry.

According to the will of the VCI, suppliers in need should be supported “specifically and temporarily” with the participation of the state.

The announced electricity price brake for basic consumption must be extended to industrial consumers.

The energy cost reduction program that has already been decided should also be extended and adapted to medium-sized companies.

Operators of chemical parks - the core of chemical production in Germany - would not currently benefit from this.

One can only speculate how expensive the relief measures would be, says Groß Entrup.

It is clear, however, that politics can only save companies and value chains "from scratch".

“The state will have to spend the money anyway.

Better to get into the structure now than next year to fund unemployment.”

The federal government will not be able to finance these funds from the existing budget, one is aware of that.

"We will not be able to avoid a temporary suspension of the debt brake".

Not doing that now would endanger the entire industrial structure.

Unemployment and social transfers would then have to be financed with even higher amounts.