What's a European manufacturer to do? Already impaired by a strong euro and rising raw material prices, there's no letup in sight for perhaps the greatest ongoing productivity challenge: oppressive energy prices. The year started with oil hitting $100 a barrel for the first time ever, and the price continues to dance around that staggering level while natural gas prices rise as well.

For makers of everything from cars, to cement, to steel, price increases are hitting hard. London-based Consensus Economics forecasts a tepid rise in Eurozone GDP of 1.6%, down from 2.6% last year, and continually warns of rising energy prices in its monthly reports. So does the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in its joint monthly outlook with London research firm NTC Economics. In early March, they noted that manufacturing indicators in the Eurozone were registering their weakest growth in two-and-a-half years.