One year after the shortage, where is the production of masks in France?

During the first confinement, in spring 2020, France had been faced with a shortage of surgical masks and FFP2.

The lack of a local production chain had caused too much dependence on imports.

In one year, around thirty manufacturers have been created and the state's reserves are full.

INVESTIGATION

As the third wave of Covid-19 is sweeping down in France, back a year when the country was confined for the first time in order to stop this new epidemic that we were only discovering.

The French then familiarized themselves with masks, which had gradually become compulsory for going out.

But it still had to be found.

After initial tensions in February, we quickly spoke of a "shortage" for caregivers.

The fault in particular with the strategic reserves of the State, which counted only 754 million masks in 2018, of which a good part unusable, had indicated the Director General of Health Jérôme Salomon.

One year later, where are we?

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Nearly two billion masks in state reserves

First point: the State's strategic reserves have been largely replenished.

Today, Santé Publique France has 1.47 billion surgical masks and 500 million FFP2 masks.

This is almost triple the pre-crisis stocks.

We are even beyond the minimum stock demanded by the Minister of Health Olivier Véran in reaction to the shortage.

This strategic reserve, intended only for nursing staff, would cover their needs for two and a half months in times of crisis.

Knowing that it is in addition to that formed on their side by health and medico-social establishments, which must have three weeks of masks in stock.

To meet this demand, an entire industry has been restructured.

At the start of 2020, there were only four manufacturers of surgical and FFP2 masks in France.

There are around thirty of them today, with a production capacity of 100 million masks per week.

This is 30 times more than a year ago.

"Before the crisis, we produced 300,000 masks per day, far from our maximum capacity. There were a lot of machines under tarpaulins. In April 2020, we climbed to a million masks per day, surgical and FFP2, and today we are at 3.5 million ", illustrates Gérald Heuliez, the managing director of Kolmi-Hopen, one of the largest manufacturers of French masks.

New factories are emerging from the ground

The entrepreneur, whose factory is located near Angers, had received a visit from Emmanuel Macron in March.

The president had subsequently cited him personally as a model in his December 31 vows.

In fact, Kolmi-Hopen is the symbol of the French reindustrialisation of masks.

"We invested nine million euros in one year to expand the fleet of machines and meet demand. We went from 102 to 285 employees," says Gérald Heuliez.

With 45 years of know-how, it exports part of its production.

"We signed a contract with the British health system, so we set up a factory in England. We also developed in Benelux, Germany and Poland."

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Reindustrialisation also involves the establishment of new factories.

In January, two emerged in quick succession in the Côtes-d'Armor.

In Ploufragan, the Swiss group M3 Sanitrade has set up a 25,000 m2 warehouse.

"We produce 5 to 6,000 masks per hour and we are still in the process of breaking in", explains Franck Lecoq, general manager of the site which must manufacture 75 million units in 2021 and double that in 2022, part of which is intended for export. , especially in Germany and Spain.

Not far away, in Grâces, the Coop des Masques has opted for local production with a target of 45 million annual masks, intended only "for professionals from the West."

Together, these factories employ nearly 70 people.

Do not produce too much to avoid breakage after the crisis

Despite this new local production, France continues to import masks, the needs being much higher than production.

According to estimates calculated by Bercy in May 2020, the entire French population consumes, at most, the equivalent of 900 million surgical masks each week.

So you have to buy the differential abroad.

A strategy that is, in part, a choice of the State.

"We have reached a point of equilibrium. There is no point in producing too much," we told Bercy.

In fact, once the health crisis has passed, the consumption of masks will drop drastically.

French factories will logically have fewer orders and, if they produced more today, they would risk having to lay off later.

"I am quite pessimistic about my activity after the Covid", abounds Gérald Heuliez, the general manager of Kolmi-Hopen.

"Obviously, I want us to get out of the crisis. But we will have to lower our production again. Maybe not at the level of the end of 2019, the masks will surely be used a little more in the future, but it is not there won't be enough to keep the factory running at full speed. "

France consolidates its supply of raw materials

The French mask industry therefore remains fragile, especially since there is no indication that made in France will be preferred in the years to come.

Companies are free to source as they want and can therefore opt for cheaper Chinese masks.

In administrations, Bercy is pushing to favor French masks.

But these are public contracts, so it is impossible to deny access to foreign manufacturers.

To limit imports, local communities, schools and hospitals are encouraged to include social and environmental criteria in their calls for tenders, so as to put French companies in a good position.

At the same time, the state supervised the production of "meltblown", the filtering raw material for masks, made from plastic.

France has hitherto been dependent on Asia for this strategic supply.

"A dozen industrial projects have been selected to relocate the industry," says one at Bercy.

They will be subsidized up to 30% of their investments, a financial gesture that aims to ensure that the cost of manufacturing masks does not soar in the event of a new health crisis.

Around 100 jobs will be created thanks to these projects.

Textile companies are abandoning fabric masks

Last aspect of French production: fabric masks.

Many companies had launched last year, at the call of the Ministry of the Economy, by adding a dedicated production line in their workshops.

A momentum that is fading.

A lot of companies are dropping, like the Eminence underwear brand.

"We stopped producing masks in February for lack of orders," explains Dominique Seau, the president.

"We have completed a final order of a million masks for the Hérault department and now we only have our stocks left."

"Some companies have continued. There are still calls for tenders and some are found there", adds Yves Dubief, president of the Union des industries textiles.

But fabric masks made in France are too expensive compared to what businesses and administrations are asking for.

"It is more and more difficult to sell them at a correct price so that does not encourage them to produce them. The positive point is that it has made it possible to demonstrate the agility of French textile companies and to partially save their activity affected by Covid. "

Although they are not always produced in France, several brands continue to sell fabric masks, which have become fashion accessories in one year.