MORBI (India), April 1 -- Blazing-hot kilns in India's US$6.5 billion (RM26.2 billion) ceramics manufacturing hub employing hundreds of thousands of people have gone cold, shut down in an energy crunch caused by the Middle East war.

At a cavernous facility in Morbi, in India's western Gujarat state, a 200-metre-long propane-powered kiln that normally fires clay nonstop is silent. It is one of hundreds of plants supplying homeware tiles across the world that have been forced to suspend operations.

Thick layers of dust smother giant grinding and pressing machines, while only a tiny crew of workers transfer the last batch made three weeks ago off snaking assembly lines and into trucks.

"We are suffering a lot," said Kishor Dulera, who clo...