Australia’s largest building materials manufacturers are considering moving production overseas if electricity shortages and pricing volatilities continue.
The leaders of Brickworks, Australia’s largest brickmaker, and Boral, a manufacturer of construction materials, gave a blunt assessment of the situation.
According to Reuters, Brickworks has gas contracts with energy company Santos costing around $10 per gigajoule (US$6.95), recent prices have reached $40 per gigajoule (US$27.82), and are currently capped by the government.
“If we had to pay, when our contract rolled over, (the current spot price), we would no doubt be shutting plants down and moving production offshore,” Lindsay Partridge, managing director of Brickworks, said in an interview….