European gas prices hit a record high yesterday of more than €343 per megawatt-hour.

The commodity is in short supply since Russia slashed exports to Europe via the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline in June and industry may face rationing once the weather turns cold. Prices are more than ten times the level of those in America as traders and utilities scramble to secure supplies before then.

Fertilizers Europe, the industry association, has said that 70 per cent of production on the Continent had been curtailed by high gas prices, underscoring that the energy crisis is starting to spread across industries and to threaten sectors as diverse as glassmaking and food production.