The price of energy is at the top of the list of fears shared by companies belonging to different supply chains. And it risks having a long-term impact on SMEs and the local area. «The cost of electricity is a huge problem, especially for tertiary companies – explains Ercole Botto Poala, CEO of the Biella textile group Reda, founded in 1865 -. On the income statement of our company (which invoices 80 million euros per year) it will have an impact on the income statement between 4 and 8 million euros compared to pre-Covid. And for the little ones it will be, in an even greater proportion ». According to Botto Poala, the continuous fluctuation (and the increase) in energy costs is negatively affecting the entire textile supply chain: «The impossibility of fixing prices puts the entire supply chain in great difficulty and will have a cascading impact on the valley. In fact, we don’t know how much it will cost us to complete an order ».
Producing PDO ham costs up to 15% more
The massive impact of the increase in energy costs also confirms Giuseppe Villani, CEO of Villani Spa, a Modenese company that produces cured meats and which, like the aforementioned Reda, is a historic company (founded in 1886) and is registered in the list of energy-consuming Csea, therefore it is entitled to receive a series of concessions: “The increase in energy costs has an impact on the production of PDO cured ham between 10 and 15%, an enormous figure that is added just now that the prices of fresh products are to the stars”. The Castelnuovo Rangone-based company closed 2021 with revenues up 10% to 140 million euros and is thinking about how to stem the impact of expensive energy: “We intend to double the investments dedicated to energy saving in the next 18 months , trusting in State aid also with a remodeling of the NRP », says the CEO.
Paper mills in difficulty
The situation is similar in another sector, that of paper production and processing: “There are still too many elements of uncertainty, mainly linked to the supply and price of gas, which is essential for the functioning of paper mills, to the availability of some auxiliary materials such as chemical products, at the cost of transport “, reports Bruno Zago, president and founder of the Pro-Gest group, which closed the 2021 financial year with a turnover of 747.1 million, (+ 60% on 2020) and has six paper mills in Italy, from Treviso to Lucca. “If we look at the territories and local communities in which we are present, the situation of uncertainty we are going through has had no consequences, since we have managed to avoid layoffs by keeping all the commitments made with the workers. However, the competent authorities should be aware of the potential effects that could have further forced stops on production ”. There has already been a stop: in March the Pro-Gest group stopped the work of the factories for a week, only to reopen them.