• La Coop des Masques, a Breton cooperative society launched in early 2021 to supply surgical and FFP2 masks, was liquidated on Wednesday by the Saint-Brieuc commercial court.

  • Its leaders are angry with the State and certain members who "did not play the game" and placed orders in Asia.

  • After the judicial liquidation decision, 13 employees will find themselves unemployed.

The adventure did not even last two years for the Coop des Masques.

Launched in early 2021 in the Graces industrial zone near Guingamp (Côtes-d'Armor), the surgical mask and FFP2 manufacturing plant has just been placed in compulsory liquidation on Wednesday by the Saint-Brieuc commercial court.

For more than a year, the threat hovered over the Breton cooperative society which was crumbling under stocks due to Asian competition.

After having narrowly avoided filing for bankruptcy, the Masks Coop had been placed in receivership on February 23.

It has since failed to raise the bar with cash still in the red and losses amounting to around 1.5 million euros.

"We unfortunately expected this decision so it's not really a surprise," regrets Patrick Guilleminot.

The director general of the Coop of the masks remains no less bitter.

"It's a big mess, a scandal even because some of our members have not played the game, preferring to buy at the lowest bidder," he balances.

The State and some members did not play the game

He points in particular to the mutualist group VYV (Harmonie Mutuelle, MGEN, etc.), which had invested 300,000 euros in the project.

"And in the end, they only bought masks for 20,000 euros, preferring to buy Chinese masks at low cost," he says.

The State also takes it for its rank.

“It is undoubtedly the first culprit because its purchases are mainly made in China”, assures Christophe Wincker, chairman of the board of directors.

Last month, the Masks Coop had thus lost the market of the Paris prefecture to the benefit of Chinese importers.

The same decision was taken by the army in May.

"By helping to reindustrialize France for the production of masks, while promoting the surge in the market for low-cost Chinese masks, without even controlling either the quality or the social conditions of production, the State has caused serious economic difficulties leading to numerous workshop closures as well as bankruptcies”, analyzes Christophe Winckler.

Thirteen employees on the floor

In the absence of orders, the money was therefore missing in the coffers of the Coop masks.

But the cash flow was also weighed down by a heavy investment of around four million euros to acquire a machine making meltblown, the filter fabric used to produce masks.

Delivered a year ago, the machine ultimately never came out of the boxes for lack of money to start it up.

"And we have not been able to find a buyer for this machine", laments Patrick Guilleminot.

The Coop of masks liquidated, 13 employees therefore find themselves on the floor.

“It is all the more distressing that we had recruited many workers on permanent contracts who needed to reintegrate into the workplace,” said Christophe Winckler, welcoming “their exemplary mobilization.

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  • Company

  • Covid-19

  • Coronavirus

  • Relocation

  • Made in France

  • Brittany

  • Judicial liquidation