Which EU industries use the most energy
Within EU industry in 2023, the chemical and petrochemical sector was the single largest energy user at 21.5% of industrial final energy, followed by non-metallic minerals (14.5%, mainly cement and glass), paper, pulp and printing (14.3%), food, beverages and tobacco (12.9%) and iron and steel (10.6%). These five sectors together used nearly three-quarters of all industrial energy.
Source: Eurostat — Final energy consumption in industry — detailed statistics (dataset nrg_bal_s) (2023)
What it means
Five heavy sectors — chemicals, minerals, paper, food and steel — account for nearly three-quarters of EU industrial energy use, so that is where efficiency effort pays off most. For an operator in one of these sectors the figure confirms that energy is a strategic cost line, and that heat-intensive processes are the obvious first place to look for savings.
Context
Eurostat's energy balances (dataset nrg_bal_s) attribute industrial final energy consumption to manufacturing sub-sectors. The 2023 shares are EU-wide and measured in petajoules before conversion to percentages. The energy-heaviest sectors are those dominated by high-temperature process heat — furnaces, kilns, reactors and dryers — which is harder to cut or electrify than electrical loads, making them central to both efficiency and decarbonisation policy.
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Related topics
Is Industrial Insulation Worth It? Payback and ROI · How to Reduce Industrial Energy Costs: Practical Quick Wins · Specific Energy Consumption (SEC) · Energy Audit
Relevant to: Chemicals · Cement · Paper & Packaging · Food Processing