The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) had created a very popular and successful funding program for lightweight construction with the Lightweight Construction Technology Transfer Program (TTP-LB).
The funds from the program came from the Climate and Transformation Fund.
As a result of the ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court on the Climate and Transformation Fund and the resulting austerity measures by the Federal Government, all further funding for the TTP-LB has been cut. This means that no more projects can be funded.

At their meeting on June 12/13, 2024, the economics ministers of the federal states asked the BMWK to provide the TTP-LB with additional funds. Composites Germany, in collaboration with Composites United, underpinned this appeal by the state economics ministers with a letter from industry and research.

On 15 August 2024, representatives from industry, SMEs and research addressed an appeal to Economics Minister Robert Habeck to emphasize the crucial role of lightweight construction for the energy transition and climate protection. Lightweight construction enables considerable savings in resources and emissions, for example in the automotive and aviation industries as well as in construction.

Read the appeal to Minister Habeck here (german)

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Composites Germany - Results of the 22nd Composites Market Survey are available 

• Critical assessment of the current business situation 
• Future expectations brighten 
• Investment climate remains subdued 
• Different expectations of application industries 
• Growth drivers with slight shifts 
• Composites index points in different directions 

For the 22nd time, Composites Germany (www.composites-germany.de) has collected current key figures on the market for fiber-reinforced plastics. All member companies of the supporting associations of Composites Germany: AVK and Composites United as well as the associated partner VDMA were surveyed.  In order to ensure that the different surveys can be compared without any problems, no fundamental changes were made to the survey. Once again, mainly qualitative data was collected in relation to current and future market developments. 

Critical assessment of the current business situation 

After consistently positive trends were seen in the assessment of the current business situation in 2021, this has slipped since 2022. There is still no sign of a trend reversal in the current survey. (see fig. 1). The reasons for the negative sentiment are manifold and were already evident in the last survey. At present, politicians do not seem to be able to create a more positive environment for the industry with appropriate measures. Overall, Germany in particular, but also Europe, is currently experiencing a very difficult market environment. 

However, the main drivers of the current difficult situation are likely to be the persistently high energy and commodity/raw material prices. In addition, there are still problems in individual areas of the logistics chains, for example on the main trade/container routes, as well as a cautious consumer climate. A slowdown in global trade and uncertainties in the political arena are currently fueling the negative mood in the market.  Despite rising registration figures, the automotive industry, the most important applica-tion area for composites, has not yet returned to its former volume. The construction industry, the second most important key area of application, is currently in crisis. Alt-hough the order books are still well filled, new orders are often failing to materialize. High interest rates and material costs coupled with the high cost of living are having a partic-ularly negative impact on private construction, but public construction is also currently unable to achieve the targets it has set itself.

Read here the full press-release 

• Critical assessment of the current business situation 
• Future expectations turn negative
• Investment climate cloudy
• Expectations for application industries vary
• Growth drivers with only slight shifts
• Composites index points in different directions

This is the 21st time that Composites Germany has identified the latest performance indicators for the fibre-reinforced plastics market. The survey covered all the member companies of the umbrella organisations of Composites Germany: AVK and Composites United, as well as the associated partner VDMA.

Critical assessment of current business situation

After consistently positive trends were evident in the assessment of the current business situation in 2021, this slipped in 2022. For the third time in a row, the current survey shows pessimistic assessments. The reasons for the negative mood are manifold. However, the main drivers are likely to be the still high energy and commodity prices. In addition, there are still problems in individual areas of the logistics chains as well as a restrained consumer climate. Despite rising registration figures, the automotive industry, the most important application area for composites, has not yet returned to its former volume. This also illustrates the change in strategy of European OEMs to move away from volume models towards high-margin vehicle segments. The construction industry, the second central area of application, is currently in crisis. Although the order books are still well filled in many cases, new orders are often not forthcoming. High interest rates and material costs combined with a high cost of living are placing a heavy burden on private construction in particular. A real decline in turnover of 7% is currently expected for the construction industry in 2023.

Please read here the full press release.