Status: 07/09/2021 3:47 p.m.
When mouth and nose protection and FFP2 masks were in short supply at the beginning of the pandemic, many local companies started production – with federal funding. Now the funding is to expire. At the same time, cheap imports dominate the market.
Abda and Michael Hitz did not hesitate – back then, in spring 2020, when the pandemic hit Germany and there was a lack of masks everywhere. “The daily reports at the beginning of the pandemic about the shortage of medical masks and protective equipment and the dependence on Chinese suppliers made us stunned and encouraged us to set up a production facility in Germany,” says Abda Hitz.
The engineer couple used a disused factory building in Schopfheim near Lörrach and started making masks. Initially with three employees, today her company AplusM has 18 employees and manufactures 40,000 masks every week.
Federal funding program expires
Because the masks shortage was so great, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy launched a funding program in spring 2020 to specifically support companies that were supposed to boost domestic mask production. According to Südwest-Textil, there were 17 companies in Baden-Württemberg alone and 37 suppliers nationwide. So far, the federal government has sourced around 290 million FFP2 masks and 750 million surgical masks from German production. But these framework agreements will expire at the end of 2021. An extension is not planned.
These are bleak prospects for AplusM. “Our biggest concern is that we are not getting enough orders to keep production going,” says Abda Hitz. Her husband Michael Hitz adds: “This raises the question of the sustainability of state economic development.”
International competitive pressure is increasing
At the same time, German producers are coming under pressure from other sources. The EU recently extended the duty and VAT exemption for Chinese mask imports until the end of 2021. “This tariff suspension”, says the general manager of Südwest-Textil, Oliver Dawid, “means a considerable competitive disadvantage for the many small and medium-sized companies, often from the textile industry, due to the higher domestic production costs”.
The Mask Association Germany, the association of German mask manufacturers, is annoyed. “Politicians have launched massive funding programs and communicated loudly and clearly: ‘We want to be independent of Asian imports in the long term,'” said association spokesman Alexander Bachmann. “Unfortunately, politics has not set the framework for independence from imports. After cheap Asian goods flooded the market via the most dubious channels, countries, municipalities and public institutions almost exclusively bought cheap Asian goods of dubious quality. German manufacturers were left with their goods . ”
A flood of cheap masks – appeal to politicians
Guido Kerber from Kelkheim im Taunus also suffers from this. Last year he responded to the call of the politicians and reactivated his closed holding company Kerber & Lampe. The mask production business initially boomed. But for a few months now, the belts have only been running part-time and on some days are completely still. “We can’t keep up with the competition from the Far East,” complains Kerber. The market is currently flooded with cheaply produced masks from the Asian market. If this continues, he will have to close the business again.
In the international competition, the German manufacturers hope for help from politics. The Mask Association of Germany demands, for example, that the national emergency reserves be replenished with German goods. In addition, German manufacturers should be given preference in public tenders. “Hospitals should receive a price reduction,” says mask manufacturer Michael Hitz from AplusM, “when they buy material in Germany or the EU.” After all, a mask “made in Germany” stands for high quality, fair wages and compliance with labor standards.