Variation of electricity consumption of industry by branch

Chemical industry is, by far, the largest electricity consumer

  • Chemicals is the largest electricity intensive branch (18%) followed by food (13%), machinery (12%), steel and paper (11% each). These 5 branches absorb 2/3 of the electricity used in industry.  
  • In several branches, electricity consumption has been decreasing since 2010: this reduction has been quite significant for paper (-2.3%/year) and steel (-1.5%/year), and, to a lesser extent, for chemicals (-1.1%/year). This trend has intensified since 2019, with decreasing rates reaching -4.7%/year, -3.7%/year and -2.6%/year respectively. The non-metallic minerals industry also showed a significant decrease in electricity consumption since over 2019-2023 (-2.5%/year).
  • However, several branches have seen their electricity consumption increasing from 2010 to 2019, for instance in food or machinery (+1.2%/year and +0.3%/year respectively). It has been decreasing since then (-0.8%/year and -3.2%/year respectively).
  • In the food industry, electricity consumption has been rising since 2010, (+0.6%/year).

Electricity consumption of industry by branch - EU