page_title: Suhl
section_title: Agriculture, industry and services
hierarchical_section_title: Suhl / Economy and infrastructure / Agriculture, industry and services
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Simson neben Tor A, im Hintergrund die Haseltalbrücke, Suhl
context_page_description: Suhl is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located 50 kilometres SW of Erfurt, 110 kilometres NE of Würzburg and 130 kilometres N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella-Mehlis, Suhl forms the largest urban area in the Thuringian Forest with a population of 46,000. The region around Suhl is marked by up to 1,000-meter high mountains, including Thuringia's highest peak, the Großer Beerberg, approximately 5 kilometres NE of the city centre.
  Suhl was first mentioned in 1318 and stayed a small mining and metalworking town, until industrialization broke through in late 19th century and Suhl became a centre of Germany's arms production, specialized on rifles and guns with companies such as Sauer & Sohn. Furthermore, the engineering industry was based in Suhl with Simson, a famous car and moped producer. In 1952, Suhl became one of East Germany's 14 district capitals, which led to a government-directed period of urban growth and conversion. Its results – a typical 1960s concrete architecture-marked city centre – are defining to the present.
context_section_description: Agriculture plays no role in Suhl, only 17% of the municipal territory are in agricultural use. The soil isn't very fertile and the climate is harsh, the most cultivated strains are maize and rapeseed, furthermore there is cattle farming on some areas. On the other hand, 63% of the territory are forest, so that wood production plays a role in Suhl.
  Suhl's industry has always been based on metalworking. In the past, the city was a leading arms producer in Germany and the vehicle production was another pillar of the local industry. After the reunification in 1990, the industry collapsed and the most factories got closed. Important companies of today are CDA, a producer of data replication media, Zimbo, a meat producer, Gramss, an industrial bakery, Paragon, a car parts supplier, and Merkel, the last remained arms producer in Suhl. In 2012, there were 27 companies in industrial production with more than 20 workers employing 2,000 persons and generating a turnover of €295 million.
  Services in Suhl are including the typical regional supply (like retail, hospital, cinema etc.) and some preserved administrative functions over the surrounding districts like the Industrie- und Handelskammer and the regional centres of Arbeitsagentur and Rentenversicherung. Furthermore, tourism plays a role because of the beautiful landscape around. In 2012, there were 93,000 hotel guests having 245,000 overnight stays in Suhl.
caption: A building of the former Simson factory with A 73's Haseltal bridge in background
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