Claus Müller cannot be happy about the situation. The boss of Plexiglas Riesner, a family-owned SME specializing in plexiglass in Wiesbaden, west of Frankfurt, saw its turnover soar in March, with the coronavirus pandemic.

"Our turnover has doubled this month compared to usual and if the reason was not so sad, we could be happy," he told AFP.

To read: "Coronavirus: Germany seems to manage the crisis better, Angela Merkel becomes popular again"

The company's order book is packed. In the office adjoining the production hall, the telephone keeps ringing.

In fact, customers rushed to the transparent protective walls, simple but effective weapons against the spread of the virus transmitted mainly by droplets of saliva. Their employees are thus protected in situations where the recommended safety distance of two meters is difficult or impossible to respect.

"Our main customers are pharmacies, hospitals, but also administrations or the city of Wiesbaden, doctors and of course shops that cannot close," says the plexiglass specialist.

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Delivery difficulties

Material often used to speak of any acrylic glass without distinction, that of better quality preferably used is Plexiglas with a large P, the trademark registered by the German group Röhm.

"The requests really started coming in at the end of February," adds Claus Müller. "The problem is that everyone needs it quickly and we only have a certain production capacity."

The shutdown of large swathes of the world economy and the closing of factories in Germany, as elsewhere in Europe, to fight against the spread of Covid-19, could moreover cause problems to deliver orders.

"The stock is sufficient for one or two weeks and our suppliers have already warned us that there will not be any deliveries in April," said the company director. "It seems to me that the whole market in Germany is paralyzed," added the sixty-something man.

The global acrylic glass market is expected to grow from $ 5.3 billion in 2019 to $ 7.1 billion by 2024, according to 360 Market Updates.

After the coronavirus crisis, the demand for plexiglass in supermarkets will drop and many protective walls will certainly be removed once the danger has passed, Claus Müller believes. It could be otherwise in pharmacies or at the reception of medical offices.

"We feel more secure", "it also protects our customers if we were infected without symptoms", says Iris Erdelmeier, pharmacist. His clients appreciate the walls and have suggested that they be preserved.

With AFP

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