The chief executive of steelmaker Salzgitter has warned that Germany’s big energy users must commit to the country as a base to stave off the creeping deindustrialisation of Europe’s largest economy.

Gunnar Groebler, who joined Germany’s second-largest steelmaker two years ago, told the Financial Times that if manufacturers of materials needed by industry, such as steel or chemicals, were to leave the region due to high energy costs “you run the risk of losing the whole value chain” of production.

His comments come as 32 per cent of surveyed industrial companies in August told the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) that they favoured investment abroad over domestic expansion — double the 16 per cent identified in the previous year’s survey — amid concern over a future without cheap Russian gas.

(via NRO)

[If you reduce energy production or escalate its costs prohibitively, manufacturers will seek other environments in which to work. The same is true for other regulatory policies such as those around mining or permits, but energy has the most direct impact. One has to wonder whether it’s already too late in Germany; it’s not too late here — yet. — Ed]