After two years of Corona with severe sales slumps, the fireworks manufacturer Weco reports booming business. “Catch-up effects in parts of the population have meant that we have an extraordinarily good sales year in Germany,” said a spokesman for the largest German fireworks company in Eitorf east of Bonn. “We would have been happy if we at least reached the pre-crisis level – but according to previous figures we have clearly exceeded it.”
In 2020 and 2021, the sale of rockets and firecrackers in Germany was banned due to the corona pandemic, and the company’s business collapsed. Obviously, many people had a great longing for fireworks and are now buying more than before the pandemic, the spokesman said.
Number of employees fell by about 40 percent
In the 2019/20 financial year (until the end of April), Weco still had sales of around 105 million euros, a year later it was only 16 million euros (minus 84 percent). The loss increased tenfold to around 8 million euros. No figures have yet been published for the following financial year – but it must have been just as bad. Weco closed one of the three plants during the Corona crisis, and the number of employees at the company fell by around 40 percent to currently only 204.
The company does not yet have final figures for New Year’s Eve business because it takes back unsold products from supermarkets or discounters. It will take a while until this is completed and booked accordingly. On the basis of the figures available so far, however, one can say that the German New Year’s Eve business is significantly exceeding planning, said the company spokesman.
Weco is active in a total of ten European countries, Germany is by far the most important market. “It’s good to see that parts of the German population continue to buy fireworks and don’t question it either.”
