German builders worried by China policy in Africa

German building firms are concerned about China's efforts to secure raw materials in Africa to sustain its booming economy, the managing director of the HDB construction industry association said in an interview.
"Not just the construction industry, the whole of German industry is concerned about China's policy in Africa," Michael Knipper said. "This applies both to the future availability of raw materials, and also to Africa's development chances."
Knipper said the industry was therefore mulling its options on how to do more to secure the supply of raw materials abroad to avoid their costs spiralling as a result of Chinese competition for African raw materials.
Though Chinese trade and investment are helping Africa to grow at the briskest pace in 30 years, some critics say China is acting no differently from former colonial powers in sucking up raw materials instead of developing indigenous industries. One of the options open to firms looking to safeguard the supply of metals, minerals and other important raw materials is for them to buy up local producers in Africa.
However, Knipper told Reuters this was not an easy task. "The majority of German industry is made up of smaller and medium-sized firms, and so - both due to limited capital resources and the huge rise in the market value of raw material producing firms - buying up raw material producers will only be possible in exceptional cases," he said.
GERMAN UTILITIES TO GET MORE LENIENT REGULATION:
German utilities including E.ON and RWE the country's largest, will get less demanding targets for cutting costs at their energy grids after complaining that the goals were too demanding.
According to a draft decree, the government will allow utilities to charge more from competitors that want to use their power and natural-gas grids than it previously planned, a spokesman for the German economy ministry said on Wednesday.
He was confirming a report in Wednesday's edition of Handelsblatt newspaper.
According to the draft decree, utilities will have to cut the costs they are allowed to charge their customers by 1.25 percent annually, instead of 1.5 percent as previously envisaged. In most areas of Germany, customers have access to only one power and gas network, so the utility that owns the grid for an area has control over transport prices.