German rubber industry association warns of production collapse by 2035 without urgent reforms

Germany’s rubber manufacturing sector faces extinction by 2035 unless policymakers slash energy costs and slash red tape, the country’s leading industry body has warned. In a stark assessment delivered on 22 June, Boris Engelhardt, managing director of the German Rubber Industry Association (Wirtschaftsverband der deutschen Kautschukindustrie, WDK), declared that industry specialists overwhelmingly believe domestic rubber production will vanish within a decade unless urgent action is taken. Speaking at a WDK event, Engelhardt cited soaring energy prices and suffocating bureaucracy as the twin killers of Germany’s industrial competitiveness. “The latest open letters from the chemical and metal industries are more than warnings—they are farewell letters,” he said, accusing the federal government of papering over cracks with ineffective relief measures that deliver trivial savings while piling on more paperwork. Engelhardt lambasted Berlin’s approach, arguing that piecemeal subsidies and convoluted bureaucracy—rather than systemic reform—are accelerating the exodus of manufacturing to lower-cost regions. Relief measures, he noted, deliver “less than one cent per kilowatt-hour” in savings while drowning companies in additional administrative layers. The WDK chief called for a fundamental “change of course in Europe,” urging policymakers to tackle the root causes of economic weakness instead of masking symptoms. He warned that relying on local-content protection to fend off low-cost rivals is a dead end, arguing that such measures merely shift production across EU borders without solving competitiveness. Even if factories relocate beyond the EU, Engelhardt cautioned, Brussels won’t intervene because the bloc’s priority is carbon reduction, not preserving specific national industries. The warning underscores a broader crisis in Germany’s industrial base, where energy-intensive sectors are haemorrhaging jobs and investment to cheaper jurisdictions. Without decisive reforms, the country risks losing not only rubber production but a critical pillar of its manufacturing ecosystem by 2035.