Until midsummer, Italian ceramics company Saxa Gres was on a high. It had record first-half sales of €50mn — up from €43mn for all of 2021 — as demand for its cobblestones and faux stone paving slabs surged in the wake of the post-coronavirus construction recovery.
But in July, Francesco Borgomeo, the company’s president, shut down its three kilns and furloughed 500 employees as soaring gas prices made production economically unviable. “I had no other option,” he said. “I had to protect the company. It is impossible to produce like this. I am waiting for the storm to pass and then we will reopen.”
Saxa Gres’s woes are symptomatic of the deepening distress among Italian manufacturers in energy-intensive industries such as ceramics, paper, glass and metal, many of which have also slowed or suspended production. Their woes highlight the daunting task confronting Italy’s prime minister in waiting Giorgia Meloni as she prepares to lead the country’s most rightwing government since the second world war.