Energy supplies at risk

Electricity and gas are at the heart of European textile manufacturers’ concerns as 2023 is about to begin. Default risks are at their highest, while some factories are urgently trying to equip themselves with solar panels. The gas and electricity crisis is also a source of tension within the European textile industry: some countries, like Spain and Portugal, have been able to decouple electricity prices from gas prices, so as to minimise energy bill increases. A distortion of competition that is causing for example French producers to gnash their teeth in anger.

Moreover, while the pandemic brought virtually to a halt the entire textile and apparel sector, the current energy crisis is concentrated in Europe, accentuating the…