PenInfo Desk: German industrial energy consumption fell significantly last year, in part due to decreased production in energy-intensive sectors, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Monday. Source “dpa”

Consumption dropped by 7.8% to 3,282 petajoules in 2023. The previous year, industrial energy consumption had fallen by 9.1% already.

“The decline in industrial energy consumption was directly linked to falling production in 2023. Energy-intensive sectors were particularly affected, with production falling by 11.2%,” the statistical office stated.

The most widely used industrial energy source remained natural gas, at 28% – despite a notable reduction. This was ahead of electricity, oil and oil derivatives, and coal.

Chemical industry leads the pack

The industrial sector with the highest energy consumption in 2023 was once again the chemical industry, with a share of 26.5% of overall industrial energy consumption. This was followed by metal production and processing at 23.9% and coking and mineral oil processing at 10.3%.

In the chemical sector, however, almost a third of the energy sources (31.6%) were used as raw materials for chemical products rather than for power generation.

The German chemical industry, suffering from increased energy prices, suffered an 11% drop in production in 2023. Production is expected to rise again by 3.5% this year, according to the VCI industry association.

German industrial energy prices are high by international comparison, with price fluctuations impacted by the war on Ukraine led by Russia, previously the country’s dominant supplier of natural gas.

Peninfo/desk/05.11.24/12.48am