The future prospects for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry are extremely negative under the current industrial policy conditions. This is the conclusion of a survey of specialists and managers in companies and research institutions in the sector.
On the other hand, the chemical and pharmaceutical industry is optimistic about the high quality of training and the proximity between companies and science in technology development. The survey was carried out among the members of the VAA trade and management association and DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V. Representatives of both associations are calling for a radical change of course in industrial policy.
As part of the survey, the members of VAA and DECHEMA assessed, among other things, the importance of a total of 17 location factors for the continued existence of jobs. The most important influencing factors: the level of energy prices, the level of training and the availability of skilled labour, the stability of the industrial policy framework and the availability of raw materials.
High energy prices as the reason for the crisis
The level of energy prices is also the location factor to which the survey participants attribute the most negative influence on the continued existence of jobs with one rating. The duration and complexity of authorisation procedures for the construction of new production facilities and state administrative procedures as a whole were also viewed critically. On the other hand, the participants see the efficiency of the existing production infrastructure and the proximity to scientific institutions as having a positive influence.
In view of the survey results, Dr Christoph Gürtler, 2nd Chairman of the VAA, is calling on political decision-makers to radically change course in terms of industrial policy: "If Germany is to remain a chemical and pharmaceutical location with its highly efficient value chains, energy prices must be reliably capped at an internationally competitive level and the much-vaunted measures to reduce bureaucracy must finally be implemented." This applies more than ever against the backdrop of the reduction in highly qualified industrial jobs already announced by a number of chemical and pharmaceutical companies.
