GAS: EU GAS PRICES UP FOR INDUSTRY AND STABLE FOR HOUSEHOLDS.

Industry.In the last two years, the highest gas price rises for industrial clients were recorded in Denmark (more than 25% for each category of consumer) and in Finland (between +16% and +25% depending on the consumer category). These two countries experienced very strong increases in gas prices between 1999 and 2000 (more than 70% in Denmark for all consumers and more than 80% in Finland for medium - with an average annual consumption of 41.6 TJ - and large - annual demand of 418.6 TJ - consumers) after important drops between 1998 and 1999.Significant price rises were also registered between 1998 and 2000 in Ireland (+21% for medium-sized clients) and in France (+16% for medium consumers and +19.5% for large consumers). On the other hand, gas prices for industries declined notably in Austria (-11% for small consumers - 4,186 GJ of annual consumption - and -16.5% for medium-sized clients), in the Netherlands (-10% for small consumers and about -7.5% for large), as well as in France for small consumers (around -9%). In Germany, there was a drop in prices for all types of industrial consumers (between -4% and -7%) and in the UK for medium (-6%) and large consumers (-8.5%).A Eurostat study of variations in real ex-VAT gas prices (disregarding inflation) for industry expressed in national currency from 1 July 1999 to 1 January 2000 reveals an average strong rise which affected all categories of standard consumer, from +5.29% for the smallest to +22.6% for the biggest customers. The main rises were recorded in Finland (between +27.6% and +45.4%), in the Dutch city of Rotterdam (between +24.5% and +42.3%), in Denmark (ranging from +23.3% to +38.3%) and in Belgium (between +16.5% and +37.1%). Other relevant rises affected Madrid for all standard...