German move to secure raw materials in the face of mounting competition from emerging economies.
German move to secure raw materials
By Gerrit Wiesmann in Berlin
Carmaker Daimler, electronic equipment group Bosch and 10 other German companies on Monday formed an alliance to secure key raw materials in the face of mounting competition from emerging economies.
Ulrich Grillo, deputy president of the German industry association, said the 12 partners would seek to “build up a powerful corporation” which would invest in raw material projects in order to improve security of supply.
The announcement came 15 months after the German government signed off on a new commodities strategy, which was meant to ensure supplies of rare earths and other commodities vital for Europe’s largest economy.
That policy decision came as rising demand from China and other industrialising nations intensified global competition for metals and other expensive raw materials, which Germany has had to import for generations.
Germany’s concern mirrored that of other nations, who have watched China buy up supplies, especially through some high-profile deals in Africa. Fears have also grown than China could restrict exports of its own rare earths.
“The alliance is aiming to take shareholdings in commodity projects to achieve a long-term improvement in the supply of raw materials to industry,” said Mr Grillo, who also runs the zinc-processing group Grillo-Werke.
Other founding members were said to be copper producer Aurubis, chemicals groups BASF, Bayer and Evonik, carmaker BMW, and steelmaker ThyssenKrupp – some of Germany’s largest groups and leaders in their sectors.
The alliance – which says it is open to new members – aims to get involved in a raw material project at an early stage and assess its reserves, giving German companies the option of signing supply contracts or taking a stake.
In some cases, the alliance could itself invest in a project and develop reserves of certain commodities, although neither the founding companies nor the BDI industry association said what raw materials it had in mind.
The BDI had previously said the alliance would focus on rare earths and not on commodities for energy production. Dierk Paskert, formerly a senior executive at power company Eon, was named chief executive.
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