Responsible for this for customers very an-noying development of the energy costs in Germany are on one hand the rising pro-curement costs for electricity. On the other hand, there are the high crude oil prices, explained Michael Pohlig, manager of the Association of the German Textile Finishing Industry/TVI, Frankfurt, to Textination, since especially the domestic textile finishing companies cover their requirements for up to 75% of their energy needs with natural gas, and this price is coupled to the oil quotations.

On top of it there are the changed law conditions. The use of energy in the production of the textile finishing brings at the moment a load of on average 9% of the total costs. Depending on structure and production sortiment of the plant these costs can go up to 14%. Because of the high heating oil quotations in 2004/2005 the domestic textile finishing companies have had to cope with drastically rising natural gas prices. End of 2004 there were already price rises up to 40%. An end to it can not be seen.

In 2004 145 textile finishing enterprises (with more than 20 employees each) with altogether 11,885 (last year: 12,181) employees were counted in Germany. Sales stayed with 1.147 (2003: 1.140) billion EUR nearly unchanged. Deciding for the small plus in sales was the still good export business of the companies. The demands of the textile finishing industry to the politicians are therefore, according to Pohlig:

1. Uncoupling of the gas price from the crude oil price. "The energy costs steadily go up. That really hurts. We have no chances to pass on these costs to confectioners and the trade".
2. More competition on the electricity- and gas market.
3. Improvement of the law conditions for the producing trade (e.g. taking back the Eco-Tax). These demands are fully supported by the umbrella association Textile and Fashion in Eschborn and the other trade associations.

Comparing the electricity costs to international standard they are too high in Germany, there-fore the German textile industry is burdened with them in an extreme way, since the process of textile production is very energy intense – according to a new statement of an important textile company. Additionally, there is the Eco-Tax and the "water pfennig", as well as the exorbitantly high sewage charges, which would make a textile producer in Germany be much more worse off than his competitors, not only ones in China, but mainly the rest of Europe. Liberalization of the electricity markets did not help at all, they stressed. The prices are still agreed upon be-forehand in cartels – according to the company – and over transmission fees of the top dog the low-priced sellers are intercepted or their price regulated. "We demand a fast release of the markets, which is a real one and a relief of our electricity- and energy cost intensive branch, to be able to stand up internationally."

The textile branch in Germany''s neighbouring countries also suffers under the strongly rising energy costs. The power costs have become a considerable burden for the Austrian textile industry, explained Dr. Wolfgang Zeyringer, manager of the Trade Association of the Textile Industry of Austria (www.textilindustrie.at). They are a clear additional disadvantage for the domestic production location. There are not only the sheer costs for electricity but also the different high mark-ups under various titles.

These are on one hand the still very high costs for the transmission. Here the power supply net owners have a monopoly which they use for their own advantage and to the disadvantage of the users which they exploit generously. Furthermore there are big differences with the transmis-sion fees between the individual federal states. Thanks to the pressure the industry exerted the electricity regulation office has ordered a reduction of these costs. However, they are still too high.

Additionally, the electricity sellers are very inventive in creating a list of mark-ups onto the electricity prices, e.g. fees for stranded costs etc.. And the authorities have also driven the energy costs higher and higher by increasing the energy taxes. For a lot of Austrian textile companies they have therefore become a big problem. Karin Jung, department manager for economy at Swiss Textiles, St. Gallen, said the following to Textination: "Although in Switzer-land the prices for electricity have decreased in the last ten years nearly continuously and these prices in many EU-countries have risen instead, the economy – especially the small and middle sized enterprises – of Switzerland still pays about 300 Mio CHF or 1 Rp./kWh more than their European competitors. However, because of that, the Swiss households profit from lower electricity costs. Also, the current oil, gas and coal prices lead to a rise of the whole energy costs. The, for several years, heavily discussed liberation of the power market would give market prices even to the Swiss economy."

Gert Krockert
Translation: Dr. Heidi Arndt
Source: Textination.de