Europe 1 4:35 p.m., October 6, 2021
On Europe 1, Wednesday noon, the president of the Michelin group, Florent Ménégaux, returned to the recovery in activity experienced by the manufacturer since the bulk of the coronavirus crisis has passed.
The leader deplores a scarcity of raw materials which forces his factories to run (almost) at slow motion.
INTERVIEW
Will the tire industry be able to meet the strong mobility needs that have been expressed since the start of the year and the (very) slow decline in the coronavirus epidemic around the world? This is the question that arises today, as the raw materials crisis has cast a shadow over the forecasts of many companies in the construction, textiles and transport sectors. In this last sector, Michelin is worried about not being able to produce as much as it would like, confides the president of the group on Europe 1, Wednesday noon, with also a problem on the side of the workforce.
"The market would require that our factories run at almost 100% and today, they run at around 80%, 85%", deplores Florent Ménégaux at the microphone of Elisabeth Assayag and Emmanuel Duteil.
"It is very difficult to recruit, but also to route the products to make them run."
Transport problems
Concretely, the group with 200,000 million tires sold per year has no problem finding rubber, one of the raw materials of the tire.
On the other hand, points out Florent Ménégaux, "it is very, very difficult to find boats and containers to transport it, to have boats that stop at the port where we need them to stop, to be able to use them. disembark, to find the trucks that will take these containers to their places of consumption, that is to say our production plants, ”says the president of the group.