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Europe's man-made fibre industry at a crossroads, says CIRFS

At the recent **th Dornbirn Manmade Fibres Congress in Austria (**-** September), Frederic van Houte, director general of CIRFS, the European man-made fibres association, warned that Europe’s wider manufacturing base is stagnating. Energy-intensive industries such as petrochemicals and fibres are increasingly shutting down under financial strain.

Energy and competitiveness
Since ****, energy prices have soared across Europe. Gas remains more than double its pre-war level and almost triple the cost in the United States. Electricity prices too are still elevated compared with ****. Combined with high labour tax, and compliance costs, this has eroded Europe’s competitiveness and left producers exposed.