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 2007: this reduction has been quite significant for paper (-2.4%/year) and steel (-2.0%/year), and, to a lesser extent, for chemicals (-0.9%/year). In the food and non-metallic industries, electricity consumption has been rising since 2014, (+1%/year and +0.6%/year, respectively).

Electricity consumption of industry by branch - EU