Closures of Bavarian paper mills: VDMB calls for affordable energy for the economy
News General news
With UPM and SAPPI, two large paper manufacturers have recently announced that they will close their Bavarian production sites in Plattling and Stockstadt. This will reduce the production capacities of the Bavarian paper industry by 20 per cent. The Verband Druck und Medien Bayern (VDMB) views this development with great concern. "The German printing industry depends on an internationally competitive paper industry in Germany. Paper still plays the predominant role for printed products. Whether newspapers, books, magazines, election documents, operating instructions or package inserts of medicines: all these print products are based on paper ", emphasises Christoph Schleunung, Chairman of the VDMB, pointing out the still great importance of paper for the economy and society.
"It is an ominous signal when energy-intensive sectors such as the paper industry see only limited prospects for profitable paper production in Germany in the long term," Schleunung warns. Especially in energy-intensive paper production, an affordable and secure energy supply and its long-term predictability play a decisive role in investment decisions. The current plant closures underline the acute pressure on politicians to ensure competitive framework conditions for the economy in order to maintain Germany as an industrial location. "In addition to the necessary reduction of bureaucracy, this includes above all a reduced industrial electricity price as a bridging solution from which large-scale industry and small and medium-sized enterprises benefit equally," Schleunung directs a concrete demand to politicians. "What is needed is a new location policy for Germany that gives companies planning security again and more room to develop. Otherwise we endanger the future viability of our business location," Schleunung warns. Only recently, Jürgen Schaller, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Bavarian Paper Mills, also called for an industrial electricity price in order to once again create reliable and internationally competitive location conditions for German paper mills and, on this basis, to advance the necessary transformation of the industry.
