Callebaut is by no means an isolated case. Miele is relocating a large part of its washing machine production to Poland. Porsche is planning its new gigafactory in the United States. The batteries manufactured there will be used to equip 150,000 to 200,000 electric cars. Porsche is being enticed with subsidies of two billion US dollars. BMW and Audi also want to relocate part of their production to the USA. If they are leaving Germany, they might as well leave the EU as well. According to a survey by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, one in ten companies is planning to relocate production out of Germany, and in the case of industrial companies, this figure rises to almost one in three. The deindustrialisation of Germany is in full swing. The great transformation?
But what are the reasons for such a rapid exodus of companies from Germany, the likes of which has not been seen in 15 years? According to the IHK survey, the main reasons are the lack of reliability in energy policy and high energy costs overall. Excessive bureaucracy is also cited. The Supply Chain Due Diligence Act certainly plays a part in this. Manufacturers in the food industry must prevent human rights violations by their suppliers, including small farmers in Africa. They are required to protect the environment, for example by counteracting deforestation of the rainforest. And, of course, they must produce in as climate-neutral a manner as possible.
But that's not all. „Compared to other European countries, we have the highest taxes and duties, the highest wages and, unfortunately, a dilapidated infrastructure in Germany,“ as Katjes co-owner Bastian Fassin recently summed it up. Not to mention the current shortage of skilled workers.
The list of companies turning their backs on Germany is long. It would go far beyond the scope of this article. The list of companies going bankrupt and closing their doors for good is even longer. It is clearly becoming increasingly difficult to create reasonable production conditions for companies in Germany.
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