Medium-sized companies in Germany are optimistic despite significantly higher energy costs. They usually pass the prices on to the customers.
The majority of medium-sized companies in Germany see themselves in a position to be able to shoulder higher burdens as a result of rising energy costs in the longer term.
However, the customers of the companies have to be prepared for higher prices or have to pay them already, according to a survey by the KfW development bank published on Tuesday.
Four out of ten small and medium-sized companies in Germany have increased their prices for products and services to cushion rising prices for oil, gas and electricity. Around another third of SMEs are planning price increases by the end of 2022. “Every fifth company is passing the increased energy costs on to their customers in full,” noted KfW.
More than two million companies affected
From January to the end of April 2022, energy costs rose for more than half (54 percent) of medium-sized companies in Germany compared to the same period last year, according to KfW. This means that around 2.1 million small and medium-sized companies in Germany are directly confronted with increased energy costs in their own company. On average, the energy costs of the affected companies in the four months were an average of 41 percent above the level of the same period last year.
«The increased energy prices as a result of the war in Ukraine are already clearly noticeable for many medium-sized companies. However, most companies remain calm and assume that they will be able to cope with these additional costs for the time being,” summarized KfW Chief Economist Fritzi Köhler-Geib. “However, the further development of the Ukraine war and the corresponding effects on energy prices harbor a high degree of uncertainty.”
