Siemens Sees Wind Turbine Pricing Pressure Continuing, CEO Says

The pricing pressure in the wind turbine industry will continue because of overcapacities, Siemens AG (SIE) Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher said.

“We continue to see capacity adjustments, overcapacity” and therefore continued pricing pressure in the renewables business, Loescher said today during a call with analysts.

Siemens, which today said profit from its renewable business declined 48 percent to 36 million euros ($44 million) in the third quarter, sees “no deterioration but also no reason to believe that we’re seeing a positive development” in that industry, Loescher said.

Western turbine makers including Siemens, General Electric Corp. and Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) are suffering from increased competition from Asia. Siemens’ new renewable orders declined 68 percent to 525 million euros.

Vestas is cutting a 10th of its workers as its market share slips away to China’s Sinovel Wind Group Co. (601558) and Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. (2208)

To contact the reporters on this story: Stefan Nicola in Berlin at snicola2@bloomberg.net; Alex Webb in Frankfurt at awebb25@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net