Steel industry pushes for affordable energy

Saxony's steel industry is calling for swift measures for affordable energy and planning security in order to secure production in Europe. There is an urgent need for action on energy prices and foreign trade protection measures, said Alexander Grosse, Managing Director of BGH Edelstahl, following the Saxon steel summit at the Freital steelworks. "We've talked a lot here. Now it is imperative that we act."

Government wants to pull together with industry

Minister of Economic Affairs Dirk Panter (SPD) agreed. "We don't have an awareness problem, we have an implementation problem," he said in Freital. The Saxon government is pulling in the same direction as the steel industry. There are good signs from Brussels, but the main addressee for long-term solutions is currently the federal government. "We have to get an industrial electricity price, otherwise it won't work in the long term."

We need security of supply with renewable energies, said Kerstin Maria Rippel, Managing Director of the German Steel Federation. "To ensure that all of this remains affordable, we need the industrial electricity price on the other hand, a basis that can be planned for the long term so that industry can remain in Germany and Saxony and still become climate-neutral." Rippel also spoke out in favor of an extension of electricity price compensation and further relief for transmission grid fees.

Steel industry under competitive pressure

Steel production in Germany is on the decline. According to the German Steel Federation, crude steel production fell by almost twelve percent between January and August 2025 compared to the same period last year. The industry is suffering from the crisis in customer sectors, especially the automotive industry. Added to this are higher energy prices, cheap imports from China and the costs of converting to more climate-friendly steel production. High tariffs on steel imports to the USA are also causing problems for the industry.

In Saxony, the industry accounted for around one eighth of the state's manufacturing sector in 2024 with an annual turnover of 10.5 billion euros. The approximately 600 companies employ around 45,900 people.