Germany’s industry is unlikely to fully recover from the energy price shock and return to the competitiveness from before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the chief executive of Germany’s top utility, RWE, told the Financial Times on Wednesday. “The German industry has a disadvantage,” RWE’s chief executive officer Markus Krebber told FT, noting that Germany is now seeing structurally higher energy prices as it depends on LNG imports.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, will have to contend with structurally higher natural gas prices and demand destruction in energy-intensive industries, Krebber said in comments to FT this week. “You’re going to see a bit of recovery, but I think we’re going to see a significant structural demand destruction in the energy-intensive industries,” RWE’s top executive noted. Germany slashed its natural gas imports by 32.6% in 2023, as consumption also dropped.