FRANKFURT, May 15 (Bernama-dpa) -- High energy prices have led to lower production and job losses in particularly energy-intensive industrial sectors in Germany, official figures showed on Friday, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
Production in selected sectors such as chemicals, paper, glass and metal production has declined by 15.2 per cent since February 2022 -- a significantly greater drop compared to the 9.5 per cent decline recorded across industry as a whole, the Federal Statistical Office reported.
The figures include data up to March this year.
The decline in production has resulted in the loss of a significant number of jobs. In March 2026, 794,400 people were employed in energy-intensive sectors, 6.3 per cent fewer than in February 2022, according to the figures.
This corresponds to a loss of around 53,200 jobs.
The paper industry suffered the largest proportional loss (down 8.6 per cent), followed by metal production and processing (down 7.1 per cent).
One exception is petroleum processing, where production increased by 24.6 per cent and 1,000 new jobs were created. Significant growth has been recorded in the sector particularly since January 2026.
In 2024, energy-intensive industrial sectors accounted for 75.6 per cent of the total energy consumed by German industry.
The largest consumer was the chemical industry, with a share of 27.9 per cent, ahead of metal production and processing (23.7 per cent) and petroleum processing (10.7 per cent).
The main energy sources were natural gas, accounting for 26.3 per cent, followed by oil (21.0 per cent), coal (18.1 per cent) and electricity (15.2 per cent).
-- BERNAMA-dpa
