Cembureau calls for urgent action on electricity prices to support cement plants

Cembureau, the European Cement Association, has called for urgent action to be taken to support cement production due to large increases in the cost of electricity.

It said that, if no measures were taken at both the European and national level, the current energy prices would lead to widespread plant closures across the European Union (EU). This in turn could create a crisis in the construction supply chain.

It explained that one tonne of cement normally takes around 110kWh of electricity to produce.

Therefore, with electricity prices now between Euro700 - 1000mWh, as observed in several EU member states, electricity costs amount to Euro70 – 110/t of cement, tripling the total cost of production.

The association has called for: all available sources of electricity generation to be used to boost power supplies; the immediate introduction of emergency measures, such as price caps.