After five months of inactivity, the furnace at the famous Duralex glassworks in Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin, in the Loiret, relaunched production this Monday morning at 8 am in the presence of the Minister of Industry, Roland Lescure.
Stifled by rising energy prices, Duralex had put its furnace on standby for five months and placed all of its 250 employees on part-time jobs last November to save energy and preserve its finances. The company had obtained a loan of 15 million euros from the State to “spend the winter”.
It had indicated in September that it had been facing “for several months very unfavorable financial conditions for cyclical production, linked solely to the price of energy”, which broke out after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Today “prices have dropped,” said José Luis Llacuna, general director of Duralex, in BFM Business this Monday morning, without returning, however, to its pre-crisis level. “It is not 1,800 euros per megawatt hour, but it is still three times more than what we paid in 2021,” said the manager.
When Duralex made the decision to stop its production, electricity was advertised at a price of 1,200 euros per megawatt hour. Today, the manufacturer has renegotiated its contract with its energy provider at around 170 euros per megawatt hour compared to around 90 euros per megawatt hour in 2021.
“One before and one after”
The company had stopped producing but not selling. “We had a stock that allowed us to continue selling. It is true that after five months we began to have some shortages, and it really is time to return to production, otherwise it could be more difficult”, explains José Luis Llacuna.
“There is a before and after,” said the CEO of Duralex on Monday, greeting the “optimism” of his teams and “the desire to progress and succeed.” Duralex expects to produce 100 million lenses per year, according to its CEO. The Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin plant produces approximately 150,000 pieces per day per line, considering that it has several lines.
The company billed 30 million euros in 2022 compared to 23 million in 2021, and expects to bill 37 million euros this year, José Luis Llacuna announced in BFM Business, despite an “uncertain” request.
Created in 1945 by Saint-Gobain, the famous glass factory had been bought in extremis in January 2021, after having been declared bankrupt a few months earlier, by International Cookware (Pyrex), which became the Maison Française du Verre at the beginning of the year.
Source: BFM TV
