Page 9 - bne magazine July 2022_20220704

bne July 2022 Companies & Markets I 9
“relatively cost-competitive labour costs, improvements in economic stabilisation and the investment climate, and fiscal incentives”, said the report.
There are currently six foreign companies present, specialising in niche components such as exhaust systems, rubber parts and wiring. They include PSZ Albania GmbH, part of German Group PSZ Electronic GmbH, French automotive supplier Delmon Group and Sumitomo Electric Group’s SEWS CABIND.
Since the pandemic disrupted global supply chains, with a highly negative effect on the automotive industry, some companies have been looking for suppliers closer to their home markets.
“Albania may take advantage of the changes in the vehicle production, processes and reshoring of value chain related to COVID-19,” the report says.
“An important realignment is underway not only for automotive products, but also for production processes and players throughout the value chain. ... In the aftermath of the pandemic, heightened concerns about the vulnerability of global supply chains may prompt manufacturers to move a larger share of auto production back into the European region, which could also benefit Albania.”
There are also changes with the increasing electrification of conventional and hybrid vehicles, and the growth of the electric vehicle (EV) subsector. Again, says the report, this may create opportunities for Albania to increase its participation in the European value chain.
The report says that developing the sector “could catalyse job creation by fostering the development of a dynamic, globally competitive manufacturing sector”.
“In this turbulent time, fostering a robust and sustainable recovery will require a more productive and resilient private sector,” said Emanuel Salinas, World Bank country manager for Albania.
Gas crisis: Can Europe store enough gas this summer to get through the winter?
Ben Aris in Berlin
“Winter is coming, and the night is full of terrors.” Game of Thrones' most famous quote would
serve well as a morning greeting for gas traders as they come into work.
Russia has drastically cut gas supplies to European customers in the last weeks, raising the spectre of another and even worse gas crisis this winter. As the war in Ukraine got underway in March, the EU ordered that underground storage tanks be filled to 80% by October 1. It’s now not clear if that target will be hit.
Russia’s Gazprom announced on June 14 that it is slashing gas flow via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by 60%, blaming Siemens’ failure to return compressor units on time that had been sent off for repair, as well as other technical difficulties at the Portovaya compressor station.
Dutch front-month gas futures, the European benchmark, rose as much as 7.7% to a one-week high of €137 ($144) per MWh
in Amsterdam. The contracts have gained more than 50% since Gazprom cut flows, Bloomberg reports.
Earlier Gazprom has already cut off Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Poland after they refused to pay for natural gas in rubles, as demanded by the Russian government.
Germany alarmed
Germany is becoming very alarmed and called the reduction in gas flows an “attack.”
“The reduction of gas deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline is an attack on us, an economic attack on us,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in a speech on June 21 and accused Gazprom of cutting supplies for political reasons.
He went on to say that if Russia cuts off energy to Europe completely then that threatens a “Lehman Brothers moment”
www.bne.eu