Cementos Tudela Veguín has shut down its plant at La Robla for 10 days from Friday, 11 March, citing the soaring electricity prices as the reason for the stoppage.

The company has significant stocks of cement and expects to continue normal deliveries to its customers. The halt in operations will not affect the nearly 200 workers at the plant, the company said.  While it has a cement capacity of 1.2Mta, it has a utilisation rate of around 25 per cent currently.

The company follows Cementos Portland Valderrivas, which shut down kilns last week, attributing the step to high electricity prices.

The Association of Companies with Large Energy Consumption (AEGE) has warned of company shutdowns ahead due to the sky-high electricity prices. “The Spanish electro-intensive industries suffer from the increase in the cost of their electricity supply due to the increase in the price of natural gas and emission rights that, with the impact of the war in Ukraine, have led to electricity prices in March of over 540 euros/MWh, with hours at 700 euros/MWh, never seen in our market. In industries that are so sensitive to electricity prices and at these levels, their activity is at serious risk given their high exposure to the daily market price and the lack of most of the regulatory measures that their European competitors have," said AEGE.