15 April 2025 – According to surveys by the ifo Institute, German civil engineering continued to pick up speed in March, bringing it closer to its long-term average. Cutting red tape: Is that all the new potential German government has to offer SMEs? Instead, CDU and SPD are calling for more tariffs and higher taxes.
German civil engineering picks up speed: Capacity utilisation continues to rise
Companies in the civil engineering sector are recording a significant increase in capacity utilisation: In March, capacity utilisation was 72.6% – a noticeable increase on the February figure of 70.1%. This means that the sector is once again approaching its long-term average of 76.1%.
Companies in the civil engineering sector are increasingly working at their capacity limits again. The current figures of the ifo-Institute show: The sector is well on its way back to full capacity utilisation.
Civil engineering: Infrastructure fund should provide further tailwind
Civil engineering is likely to receive an additional boost from the German government’s new infrastructure fund. Targeted investments should further strengthen demand in the coming years. Experts therefore expect capacity utilisation to increase further over the next two years – and the previous high of around 80% could even be exceeded in the sector of civil engineering.
Cutting red tape: Is that all a new German government has on offer for SMEs?
The coalition agreement of a possible new German government consisting of the CDU and SPD has barely ‘dried’ when the first disagreements between the actually reluctant coalition partners are already emerging. At any rate, there is currently no sign of broad and secure support for the deal among the party base.
Small and medium-sized enterprises forgotten again?
The fact that the CDU and SPD do not really know how they want to tackle the pressing problems in the German economy can be seen from the fact that little has been written into the coalition agreement for small and medium-sized enterprises apart from the political buzzword ‘bureaucracy reduction’. The CDU and SPD already have differing views on a possible income tax cut for SMEs, which is due to come in the middle of the legislative period: For the SPD it is a certainty, for the CDU this point is just another ‘maybe’.
Nothing more than empty buzzwords for SMEs?
When it comes to reducing bureaucracy, they are using the European Union’s PR machine and want to ease the countless additional bureaucratic burdens of recent years. In the case of the Carbon Border Tax CBAM, for example, the Commission’s proposal is intended to create relief for SMEs that is not really a bureaucratic relief. But instead of finally recognising CBAM as the failed regulation that it is and simply abolishing the carbon border adjustment mechanism, CDU and SPD would rather tinker with it in a half-silken manner and create further competitive disadvantages for SMEs and thus for its own economy.
Is the SPD just practising patronage politics for ailing steel mills again?
Competitive disadvantages that are then to be compensated for with measures that, together with CBAM, are not only NOT WTO-compliant, but are also only to be undermined for individual sectors with the further allocation of free CO2 certificates. Because what the potential coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD has overlooked: The billions of euros from the free CO2 certificates are currently only being received by a few of the largest CO2 polluters in Europe and Germany (mainly steel mills) and not all of the export-orientated industries affected by CBAM.
CDU/SPD: Tariffs are bad – we demand more tariffs!
In view of the US government’s new tariffs, the CDU and SPD never tire of emphasising that tariffs would damage the economy, reduce purchasing power and fuel inflation. At the same time, the parties are calling in the coalition agreement for a successor to the EU Safeguard Measure on steel and the continuation of CBAM – both instruments that are also just tariffs or taxes again.
European tariffs good, US tariffs bad? We would be happy if someone could explain this in more detail. Until then, we have our own explanation: the long-known double standards of moralisers!
Latest news
- International nickel prices continue to rise
- SMEs most affected by tariff conflicts
- LME nickel prices jump significantly higher
We at the Gerber Group have been trading in stainless steel worldwide for over 20 years. We are your experts when it comes to purchasing, import, logistics and services. Information is a vital part of this. Because only then can you and we make the right decisions. Do you have any questions? Contact us now.
Disclaimer: Many things here represent our opinion. Others are information from the Internet. We can therefore never claim to be correct or complete. And never base a business decision solely on the news you receive from us.
