The German steel and metalworking industry federation Wirtschaftsverband Stahl-und Metallverarbeitung (WSM) has warned that the government’s decision on a natural gas procurement neutrality charge will create extra costs of €17,000 per employee for some steel companies.
According to the decision, manufacturing industries will be subject to a gas surcharge of 2.419 cents/kWh from October to support natural gas importers affected by the reduction of natural gas import volumes. The government aims to maintain stability of the natural gas supply with this decision. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, which declared force majeure to European customers in July, is now delivering only a fifth of agreed volumes via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, as SteelOrbis previously reported.
WSM stated that, while the increase in natural gas prices also affected the foreign competitors of German producers, the gas surcharge would only affect German companies, harming the sustainability of the sector’s international competitiveness.
Against this gas surcharge decision, the federation calls on the government to extend the time of the imposition of this surcharge for natural gas-intensive companies to reduce its cost burden and organize interim financing to support natural gas importers.
