Suffocated by the rise in energy prices, the company Duralex has decided to cease its activity until April 2023. It would otherwise have produced at a loss this winter. The 250 employees of the factory in the suburbs of Orléans, placed on partial unemployment, will continue to receive 95% of their salary during this period.
The ovens at the Duralex factory in La-Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin, near Orléans (45), were shut down on Tuesday November 1 for a period of five months. The famous glassworks had to make this decision to avoid producing at a loss due to the explosion in energy prices, linked to the war in Ukraine. All of its employees are therefore placed on partial unemployment until April 1, and they will receive 95% of their salary during this period. However, morale is good: We are confident thanks to a full order book and the support of the State “said one of them to BFMTV.
The furnaces of the factory of this company, created in 1945 by Saint-Gobain, operate 70% on gas and 30% on electricity. “ Producing at the energy rate at current prices would generate unsustainable losses. Limiting our energy consumption in the coming period therefore allows us to preserve the activity and employment of Duralex”explained the president of the company Josa-Luis Llacuna.
Sufficient stocks until April
For the time being, stocks are sufficient to continue normal commercial activity. Duralex had been acquired on the edge by International Cookware (Pyrex, which became the Maison Française du verre at the start of the year, in January 2021, after its placement in receivership a few months earlier.
BFMTV recalls that the glass factory today employs 250 people and achieved, in 2021, a turnover of 23.4 million euros.