Factories running at their slowest since Covid as Vynova switches off its plants
Capacity use in Belgian industry keeps falling, and in Tessenderlo-Ham a chemicals firm is halting production because of energy prices.
Belgian industry is weakening further. Capacity utilisation has fallen to its lowest level since the start of the Covid crisis, De Tijd and L'Echo write: nearly 30 percent of machines in factories are standing idle. HLN and Het Nieuwsblad picked up the report.
Tessenderlo-Ham shows how heavily energy prices weigh. Chemicals company Vynova is shutting down its installations one by one, with everything due to be idle by 5 November, VRT NWS reports. The company, with more than 275 million euros in debt, is in judicial reorganisation and looking for a buyer; its protection from creditors runs until 26 December. According to De Tijd, a buyer must be found in the coming weeks to avert bankruptcy. The more than 600 employees of Vynova Belgium face temporary unemployment. The ABVV union calls it a heavy blow, while employers' group Voka Limburg calls it a wake-up call for policymakers.
The nuclear sector is also holding back: six in ten companies are postponing investments because of uncertainty over energy policy, according to an Agoria survey reported by VRT NWS. De Tijd writes that with clear choices the sector could create 500 jobs within two years. For the chemicals industry, a fourth Industry Summit will be held in Antwerp in February, and Prime Minister Bart De Wever expects Europe to have three concrete measures ready by then, Het Nieuwsblad reports.