News › War in Ukraine weighs on Thuringia’s pho­to­nics industry

Russia’s war of aggres­sion on Ukraine is now also having a noti­ceable impact on the day-to-day busi­ness of tech­no­logy com­pa­nies in the Free State. The com­pa­nies are obser­ving the sharp rise in energy pri­ces and pos­si­ble bot­t­len­ecks in gas sup­plies with con­cern. The pro­blems with sup­plies and raw mate­rial pro­cu­re­ment that have exis­ted since the begin­ning of the Corona pan­de­mic are con­ti­nuing to wor­sen. As a sales mar­ket and pro­duc­tion loca­tion, howe­ver, Rus­sia and Ukraine are not decisive.

»While order books are well fil­led, com­pa­nies are com­plai­ning about the cur­rent price increa­ses and sup­ply bot­t­len­ecks and are loo­king worriedly at rising infla­tion,« said Dr. Tors­ten Poß­ner, chair­man of the board of the Opto­Net e.V. indus­try asso­cia­tion, which repres­ents Thu­rin­gian pho­to­nics com­pa­nies. »Wea­ker eco­no­mic deve­lo­p­ment will also affect the high-tech indus­try, espe­ci­ally if pro­duc­tion fal­ters or has to be stop­ped com­ple­tely due to a lack of sup­plier parts.«

The pho­to­nics indus­try pri­ma­rily sup­plies other highly spe­cia­li­zed indus­tries in the life sci­ence sec­tor, pro­duc­tion tech­no­logy or the auto­mo­tive indus­try with its com­pon­ents and systems.

At the moment, com­pa­nies are respon­ding with signi­fi­cantly grea­ter efforts in the pro­cu­re­ment of raw mate­ri­als, che­mi­cals and pre­cur­sors, e.g. for pla­s­tics or for glass pro­duc­tion, and are also accep­ting the some­ti­mes rapidly rising purchase pri­ces and long wai­ting times for com­pon­ents. Howe­ver, pro­duc­tion con­ti­nues in most com­pa­nies wit­hout any major restrictions.

»When orga­ni­zing their sup­plier net­works, many com­pa­nies are now once again incre­asingly rely­ing on part­ners in the region and in Europe,« empha­si­zes Anke Sieg­meier, mana­ging direc­tor of Opto­Net e.V., which main­ta­ins a con­ti­nuous exch­ange with the com­pa­nies. »Our mem­bers have been ope­ra­ting in cri­sis mode for two years now. Eco­no­mic resi­li­ence, inde­pen­dence and fle­xi­bi­lity are the order of the day, but a daily chall­enge for many small and medium-sized enterprises.«

It is not yet pos­si­ble to make a clear fore­cast on the impact of the cur­rent situa­tion on com­pa­nies‹ busi­ness deve­lo­p­ment. Much depends on how long the hosti­li­ties last and what poli­ti­cal decis­i­ons are made regar­ding energy sup­ply in Germany.

»Like many peo­ple, we are preoc­cu­p­ied with the war in Ukraine – we con­demn it and wish our­sel­ves and above all, of course, the Ukrai­ni­ans, an end to the war as soon as pos­si­ble,« says Anke Siegmeier.

About Opto­Net e.V.

Opto­Net repres­ents the inte­rests of 110 play­ers from indus­try and rese­arch and is com­mit­ted to an inter­na­tio­nally suc­cessful high-tech sec­tor. The pho­to­nics net­work pro­mo­tes tech­no­lo­gi­cal topics of the future, initia­tes coope­ra­ti­ons, and is com­mit­ted to attrac­ting skil­led workers and loca­tion marketing.
Cont­act for the media:

Nora Kirs­ten
+49 (0) 3641 327 92 92

ed.anej-tenotpo@netsrik.aron