The German copper industry is concerned about potential gas supply bottlenecks: as an energy-intensive industry, it is dependent on a reliable and sustainable energy supply. This is the only way to ensure that production capacities can be maintained. A reduction in volume would ultimately also have an impact on consumer products and capital goods. Copper is also an important material for the mobility and energy transition.
"As the most important technology and functional metal, copper is of great socio-economic importance," says Michael Sander, Managing Director of the Copper Association. "Copper materials are not only found in numerous everyday applications such as smartphones and computers, but are also important components of industrial products. The domestic copper industry is of correspondingly great and constantly growing importance here."
Securing manufacturing processes
The German copper industry recorded production growth of six percent in 2021. Almost 20,000 people are employed in production and initial processing alone, in addition to thousands of employees in manufacturing and further processing and their suppliers.
An insufficient gas supply is also problematic from a technical perspective: in the manufacture of semi-finished products and products made from copper materials, these undergo numerous thermal processes in order to optimally adjust the product properties within narrow tolerances according to customer specifications. Sander explains: "In many cases, it is not possible to ramp up and ramp down the systems in the production process from one moment to the next and this requires a corresponding lead time."
Energy transition under threat?
Copper materials also play a special role in the implementation of the European Green Deal and in the energy and mobility transition, as well as in the construction sector. Renewable energies are just as essential as electric cars without copper. If the corresponding primary products and components made of copper materials are not available, not only is the progress of the energy transition itself at risk, but also the supply of the population. This is because copper's excellent electrical and thermal conductivity makes it an important material for the energy transition.
Alexander Dehnelt, Chairman of the Copper Association, summarizes the situation: "At the moment, we in the copper industry see few opportunities to switch to alternative energy sources in the manufacturing process, e.g. for semi-finished copper products, in the short term. Although there are initial approaches, it will take time before this is implemented across the board. In this respect, there is currently no alternative to a reliable gas supply for the copper industry."
