Electricity prices do not affect manufacturing competitiveness

The price of electricity for industry, which is at the European average, is not affecting manufacturing competitiveness, unlike gas and steel.

The mantra pointed out by some industrial companies that the price of electricity for industry in Spain hampers the competitiveness of our economy and, especially, our manufacturing exports, is simply not true.

According to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, Spanish industry paid 0.11 euros per kw sold by electricity companies to manufacturing companies in the Spanish secondary sector. This is much cheaper than the 0.14 euros per kWh in the Eurozone countries and the 0.13 euros of the EU average.

Germany, considered a leader in exports, saw its industry pay German electricity companies 0.13 euros per kwh. However, not only Germany, but also Italy, Holland, Ireland, Slovakia, Austria, Belgium, Greece and Poland are above Spain in terms of electricity prices for industry.

Meanwhile, a price per kWh below the Spanish price is observed in Portugal, Lithuania, France, Croatia, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Denmark and Finland.

Thus, as can be seen in the following graph, the Spanish industrial company paid prices per kWh no more expensive than the European average. A fact that completely destroys the complaints of the Spanish industrialists.

Why are Spanish industrialists complaining? The problem for Spanish manufacturing is technological innovation, the cost of gas, which has risen by 300%, and the cost of steel.

It is precisely this alloy, steel, whose price has risen fourfold in recent months, that deserves special mention. A scandal that is weighing down the Spanish manufacturing industry, construction materials and even public works.

Not surprisingly, the construction of the Centenary Bridge is suffering delays due to the unprecedented high price of steel. "An unsustainable situation that is lining the pockets of steelworks and gas companies," says a member of the CEOE employers' association contacted by this newspaper.

"The increase in gas and steel prices is a disgrace," says another prominent business leader. "We are going to have to stop production. Electricity, for those of us with fixed contracts, has not changed. But gas and steel is killing us".