At the beginning of September, the impact of "North Stream No. 1" power outage continued. Recently, 12 industry associations in Europe, including ceramics, cement, clay and mining, issued joint letters on behalf of energy intensive industries, calling on the EU to take emergency measures against gas and electricity prices.
According to the letter, "the spot price of EU natural gas reached 334 euros/MWh (about 23.29 yuan/m) two weeks ago ³) The peak is 15 times of the pre crisis level, 10 times of the US price and far higher than the Asian price. The consequences are devastating. "
Alain Delcourt, president of the European Ceramic Industry Association, stressed that "the current situation is unsustainable." Paolo Mongardi, president of the Italian Ceramic Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers Association (Acimac), also said, "The ceramic tile industry is in a contradictory situation: enterprises have a large number of orders, but they cannot produce. The industry has reached the edge of production suspension. Unless there is a sudden turnaround, our entire industry will go on a road of no return."
The European Nonferrous Metals Industry Association also published a joint letter signed by the CEOs of 48 nonferrous metals enterprises and the heads of relevant associations. It is understood that 50% of the EU's aluminum and zinc production capacity has been forced to go offline, and the electricity and natural gas costs faced by producers are more than 10 times higher than last year.
At the same time, Europe has to postpone the pace of carbon reduction and increase coal power to cope with the increasingly severe energy shortage crisis. At present, Germany, Britain, France, Austria, etc. are restarting or delaying the closure of coal-fired power plants.
Energy cost accounts for 70% of the cost
Production reduction or temporary closure of European ceramic enterprises
On September 6, 12 industry associations in Europe, including ceramics, cement, mining and glass, issued a joint letter on behalf of energy intensive industries, calling on the EU to take emergency measures against gas and electricity prices.
According to the association's joint letter, the spot price of natural gas in the EU reached 334 euros/MWh (about 23.29 yuan/m) two weeks ago ³) Its peak value is 15 times of the pre crisis level, 10 times of the price in the United States and far higher than the price in Asia, which has caused devastating consequences for industrial users relying on natural gas and electricity.
The open letter of the European Ceramic Industry Association pointed out that ceramics is an energy intensive industry, which uses 80% natural gas and 20% electricity. For ordinary ceramic manufacturers, this means that the energy cost has tripled in a year and a half. The proportion of energy in the production cost has increased from 20% to about 60% - 70%. Ceramic enterprises have begun to reduce production or temporarily shut down; The cost of electricity and natural gas faced by nonferrous metal producers is more than ten times higher than that of last year, far exceeding the sales price of their products.
Alain Delcourt, president of the European Ceramic Industry Association, stressed that "the current situation is unsustainable." Paolo Mongardi, president of the Italian Ceramic Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers Association (Acimac), also said, "The ceramic tile industry is in a contradictory situation: enterprises have a large number of orders, but they cannot produce. The industry has reached the edge of production suspension. Unless there is a sudden turnaround, our entire industry will go on a road of no return."
At the beginning of September, one of the largest ceramic tile manufacturers in Europe, Pamesa Group announced that its subsidiary Azuliber completely stopped production activities.
At the end of August, Cerrad, a Polish ceramic tile manufacturer, announced that it would suspend three of its seven production lines because of the record natural gas prices. The company was also forced to increase the prices of some products by 100%. It is understood that Cerrad started operation in 1994, with an annual output of 20 million square meters of ceramic tiles. It is one of the leading manufacturers of ceramics, coarse pottery and clinker coatings in Europe, and operates in 50 countries.
According to media reports, factories in the European ceramic industry are changing the shift mode and upgrading kilns to cope with the sharp rise in costs.
The international energy price continues to rise, and the energy cost of China's domestic ceramic enterprises is also increasing.
According to the data of a leading ceramic enterprise, the average purchase price of natural gas in 2021 and March 2022 will be 3.16 yuan/m3 and 4.97 yuan/m3 respectively, up 47.66% and 57.28% year on year respectively; The average purchase price of electricity was 0.56 yuan/kWh and 0.65 yuan/kWh, up 5.66% and 16.07% year on year respectively; The average purchase price of coal was 1108.20 yuan/ton and 1193.57 yuan/ton, up 51.25% and 7.70% year on year respectively.
Cost reduction and efficiency enhancement and green manufacturing have also become important measures for ceramic enterprises to cope with energy challenges.
At present, many ceramic enterprises have launched intelligent manufacturing and lighthouse factory projects to achieve lean, flexible and green manufacturing through more automated and digital production mode. It is understood that some ceramic enterprises in China have achieved breakthroughs such as reducing energy costs by about 3 million to 6 million yuan/year/base, improving comprehensive management by 30%, and improving cooperation efficiency of production exception handling by 60% through intelligent factory transformation.