Number of German packaging companies with better turnover expectations for Q1 2014 has nearly doubled in comparison with Q1 2013, reaching 41%, according to IK Economic Trend survey

Elyse Blye

HESSE, Germany , January 10, 2014 (press release) – The German plastic packaging industry has clearly started this year with greater optimism than 2013. This is shown by the IK Economic Trend survey for the first quarter of 2014.

According to the survey, with 41% of the interviewees the number of companies with better turnover expectations has nearly doubled in comparison with 2013. Even in the case of exports, companies seem more confident than at the beginning of last year.

This positive assessment will however be affected by ever rising costs. Raw material became very expensive in December 2013, something which had not been usual until then. Further price increases have already been announced by the raw material producers.

Against this background, the IK Economic Trend also shows adjustments in the prices of packaging for the first quarter of 2014. A further indication of this are record-level energy costs. German packaging manufacturers must pay 6.24 cents per kilowatt hour for the EEG (Renewable Energy Law) allocation with effect from 1.1.2014 – a new increase of almost 20%.

That is why the subject of energy efficiency in their firms is also important to 99% of the IK members surveyed. 63% of the companies already work with an energy management system and of the remaining firms 83% plan to introduce such a system in the foreseeable future.

From the point of view of the IK, this exemplary commitment by the plastic packaging sector in the field of energy efficiency is not in the slightest near enough to offset the exorbitant costs of energy in Germany. That is why the new Federal Government is now being asked all the more to implement a market-orientated energy concept which will guarantee private end–users and the industry a secure and affordable energy supply.

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