Actually, the Bavarian economy would have liked to do without the next crisis. In many places, business has just returned to normal after the corona turmoil and bottlenecks in various preliminary products. But now the constantly rising energy prices are creating new hardships – especially for small and medium-sized companies, such as are often found in the trades. “Without affordable energy, the competitiveness of our companies is at massive risk,” warned the Bavarian Chamber of Crafts. In fact, many trades are working at the load limit or beyond; some are even about existence. Six calls for help.
Thomas Köhn, butcher in Hof
Thomas Köhn can calculate to the cent exactly what additional costs will be incurred. According to this, he will shell out 87,950 euros for electricity for his two butcher shops in the Franconian Hof this year. With the contract, which will probably be given to him for 2023, he will then pay 321,034 euros – a good 233,000 euros more. In one fell swoop. “I set up a nest egg when the war started. I put investments in new machines on hold, although in my industry you always have to be up to date.” With the savings he could stay afloat for four months. “In the fifth it gets pitch black, the money doesn’t last much longer,” says the master butcher. In addition to gas and electricity, the purchase will be more expensive for him: for glasses and cans by up to 60 percent, for spices and plastic casings by up to 15 percent. He has no choice but to add his costs to the end product, says Köhn, “but at some point it will also become unaffordable for customers.” His goods will probably be at least 15 percent more expensive next year. For a kilo of minced pork, that would be 10.25 euros instead of 8.90 euros. And where are customers going? Köhn fears: “The discounters with their cheap goods, to which we craftsmen have already lost 94 percent of the meat we buy, will do even better.”
Arzu Tuncali, hairdresser in Rosenheim
Hairdresser Arzu Tuncali cannot leave her salon unheated, otherwise her customers would get sick and stop coming, she says.
(Photo: Haarmanufaktur)
“We’re still standing,” says Arzu Tuncali and laughs. She is the head of the “haarmanufaktur” in Rosenheim. “But of course, energy prices have a major impact on our business. Who doesn’t?” Your hairdressing salon has 140 square meters, which first have to be heated to a comfortable temperature – and the warm water for washing your hair or the booming hair dryer also costs money. “My customers sit there with wet hair, so I can’t just make the room colder,” says Tuncali. “They get sick or don’t come anymore.” Her shop is more in the upper price range, so her customers are not “the first to be hurt by higher prices”. Nevertheless, she notices that the money is no longer so loose, appointments are being postponed: “Anyone who used to come to dye their highlights every other month now comes every three to four months.”
Andreas Fickenscher, baker in Münchberg
Baker Andreas Fickenscher is very much hoping for a support program from the government, because otherwise the coming year will look bleak.
(Photo: Fickenschers Backhaus)
“We’re swinging our way from one crisis to the next,” says Andreas Fickenscher, head of “Fickenschers Backhaus” in Münchberg. The slump in sales from the pandemic is still having an impact. Then grain was scarce for months. Now the master baker is dreading the new contracts for gas and electricity and the exploding prices for raw materials, “especially grain and fresh items such as cream, milk and butter.” Fickenscher has digitized the bakery in recent years, also to make the job more attractive: “With expensive dough maturing chambers, 70 percent of the night shift can be shifted to the day,” says Fickenscher. A lack of skilled workers is therefore not the problem, there are enough difficulties elsewhere. “If things get as bad as I fear, we’ll have to make our products 50 percent more expensive,” says Fickenscher. But he is already noticing in sales that customers will run out of money towards the end of the month. If the government does not set up a support program for small and medium-sized businesses, things will look bleak for him and many other companies next year.
Claus Krumpholz, engineer and head of a tool forge in Grafengehaig
Claus Krumpholz tries to collect orders and then work piecework, because it takes the most energy to heat up the ovens.
(Photo: Krumpholz)
“We’ve been through a lot of difficult times, we’re not a whining family,” says Claus Krumpholz, “but now it’s threatening.” Since 1799, the family has been making hand-forged tools in Guttenberger Hammer, deep in the forest in Upper Franconia. But now: savings are being made wherever possible. The heating in the office is off, the furnaces run around the clock, forging takes place in three shifts. Or not. Heating up the ovens takes the most energy, says Krumpholz, so orders are collected and then processed piecemeal. Thanks to turbines, the electricity comes from the surrounding streams. But three years ago, the company switched from heating oil to gas to save CO₂ – and the price of gas has quadrupled, says Krumpholz. He expects half a million euros more. In addition, there would be rising transport costs, rising raw material prices, rising wage costs. He couldn’t transfer that to the products. “We are already the most expensive on the market because we are the only ones that only produce in Germany.” Most of the tools in the hardware store come from Asia; the plant trowel is already available there for 1.99 euros, while the version hand-forged by Krumpholz costs 30 euros. Actually, he should even ask for 37 euros. “Then we would have the costs inside, but nobody buys that anymore.” Krumpholz is now hoping for an economic stimulus package that will boost customers’ purchasing power. The family cannot hold out forever. “But after 223 years, you only stop producing in the greatest of emergencies.”
Andreas Träg, carpenter in Regensburg
Andreas Träg, carpenter and foreman of the Regensburg guild, is hoping for a little more appreciation for the trades in view of the difficult times.
(Photo: private)
“Somehow,” says Andreas Träg, “we’ll get through it if we all stick together.” Träg is a carpenter and foreman of the Regensburg guild. He and his team have been sawing and planing doors, window frames and furniture for a good 35 years. But now, like many of his colleagues, he is faced with the question of how to calculate his performance in view of rising prices. The costs for timber have leveled off to some extent again, says Träg, but costs have increased elsewhere: for example for electricity for the ten or so machines in the workshop, of which at least one is always running during the day. And for paints and adhesives there is a price increase every four to eight weeks. As an entrepreneur, you can hardly make an offer like this. But stopping work instead, that’s not possible either, because then “you can go home”. Still, Träg has one hope: that the difficult times will lead to a little more appreciation for the professions that kept the country going. “If there is no more craft, there is actually nothing more.”
Fritz Boss, vegetable farmer in Nuremberg
Vegetable farmer Fritz Boss is considering how he can save energy in the future – for example by only planting half of his greenhouses.
(Photo: Boss)
Floristry, horticulture and related professions are not officially part of the craft, but they are similar – these days, especially when it comes to worries. If energy prices continue to rise, says vegetable farmer Fritz Boss on the phone, “then no garden center can do it anymore.” Boss is even in a comparatively fortunate position. He grows tomatoes and other vegetables in his greenhouses in Nuremberg’s garlic country all year round. Half of the energy required for heat and light has recently been supplied by a biomass plant. In this way he can at least “compensate a little” for the current additional costs, says Boss. In order to save even more costs and energy if necessary, he can imagine only planting half of his greenhouses or postponing the cultivation of the next tomato generation until spring. Of course, these are still just considerations, says Boss, his company still has enough room to breathe. The motto: “We drive on sight.”