Insee Première · January 2022 · n° 1887

In 2020, gross energy consumption fell by 9% in industry

In 2020, gross energy consumption in industry fell by 9% to 32.2 million tonnes of oil equivalent. The decrease in energy consumption was smaller than the decrease in activity recorded in industry in 2020 (-12%). Due to Covid crisis, the consumption of at least one energy decreased for 40% of industrial establishments while the consumption of at least one energy increased for 3% of industrial establishments.

Total energy costs fell more markedly (-15%) due to a sharp drop in prices across all energy sources, particularly for natural gas and oil products. Electricity is the only energy whose price increased in 2020.

While the consumption of some petroleum-based energies, such as butane and solid mineral fuels, was particularly low, natural gas, hydrogen and wood held up well. The evolution of energy consumption was very different depending on the sector of activity: the pharmaceutical industry was the only sector whose energy consumption increased. Conversely, energy consumption in the chemical and metallurgy sectors fell.