Textiles can no longer stand. The endless rise in gas and electricity prices is tethering companies to a point where many are considering the prospect. Submit Employment Arrangement Files (ERE) and even apply for closure. The situation is so delicate that the industry has no choice but to seek help from the Government to fulfill its promises and implement support measures. Issues such as direct aid or lowering taxes that increase electricity bills are some of the suggestions brought up by this industry.
Exorbitant prices hit the most energy-intensive sectors. One of these is textiles, which has a strong presence in the cluster formed by the Alicante districts of l’Alcoià and El Comtat and the Vall d’Albaida district of Valencia. 1,020 companies employing 8,500 workers together and around 800 million euro bills. Figures show this region as the third most important region for this industry in the country as a whole, behind only Barcelona and Madrid.
Well, his complicated situation led the Spanish Intertextile Council (CIE) to request the Administration. keep promises of help, given the fact that what has been provided to date has been wholly inadequate. It was emphasized by the employers’ association that gas prices increased five times in a year, while electricity costs doubled. Thus, the energy already represents 50% of operating costs for the paint and finishing sub-sectorto which the rest of the value chain depends. While the cost of electricity increases from 10% to 30% in the spinning industry, this rate is 55% in weaving.
CIE president Manuel Díaz, “We are facing” a completely unsustainable situation. Companies are decapitalizing themselves to deal with this energy price crisis and there is no positive sign for the rest of the year.” While the industry is turning to circularity and sustainability models to be implemented, the reality is that the industry is still unable to provide sufficient stability to be able to invest in the changes requested by the Commission. far. energy, increase in raw material costs, transportation and other inputs are added.
“An extremely complex autumn is expected for the textile industry. Our companies are suffocating and in some cases, regulatory filings and even closings are being considered because of the impossibility of dealing with this situation,” Díaz emphasizes.
He recalled that a few weeks before the CIE, Teresa Ribera, the third vice president and Minister of Energy Transition, defined textiles as a social and economic engine accounting for 3% of GDP, 4% of employment and 9% of employment. country’s exports. Well, the business entity thinks that these numbers will drop and “The Administration must take the reins in the face of this exceptional situation that has taken our industry under control”.
In this context, Pepe Serna, president of the Valencia Community Textile Entrepreneurs Association (Ateval), acknowledges the enormity of the problem that led to some ERTE’s presentation months ago. In his own words, the measures to be taken by the Government, direct assistance and tax deductions and rates included in energy bills. “They’re drawing rough and we must act now,” he stresses.
León Grau, head of the Aitex institute of technology and director of Hilaturas Miel, says that companies are running out of margins and it is precisely the finishing sub-sector that has been hit hardest.”many other things will stop in our industryJorge Sanjuan, CEO of Comersan, also sees the future as very complex and stressed that “passing prices to customers is not easy and also creates tension”.