Rising gas costs shut factories across Europe

TWO French glass makers are furloughing staff and Europe’s biggest steel maker is pausing production at plants due to soaring gas prices.

Steel giant Arcelormittal is shutting off factories in Germany and Spain, blaming the “exorbitant rise in energy prices” and a downturn in demand.

The steel company will partly close facilities in Bremen and Hamburg by the end of the month and shut one of its blast furnaces at a plant in Asturias, Spain.

Meanwhile, the French glass maker behind the popular Picardie tumbler has said it will furlough staff for at least four months from the start of November.

Duralex, which is owned by the glass company behind Pyrex, will also turn off its industrial ovens after its energy costs soared to 40pc of its turnover, compared with about 5pc a year ago.

Duralex chief executive Jose-luis Llacuna told franceinfo radio: “It is impossible to continue like this. The high prices of power and gas threaten the survival of the company and our jobs.”

Separately, Cristallerie Arc, a tableware company well-known to French households, has said it will start furloughing more than a third of its 4,500 employees for two days a week.

The company warned cannot continue production after its gas bill quadrupled from €19m (£17m) to €75m this year.

In Britain, the National Grid has told companies they will be paid to reduce their energy at peak times for three years in a row.

Industrial users of energy have been told they will receive payments of up to £5m this winter for factories that cut production if the gas crisis escalates. The network operator has said factory owners face compulsory gas rationing if they do not put in bids for the “demand side response” (DSR) payments.

Shell boss Ben van Beurden has warned European nations may need to ration energy for several winters. He said: “That this is going to be somehow easy, or over, I think is a fantasy that we should put aside.”