The energy crisis is hitting Cofigeo hard. The agri-food group (William Saurin, Garbit, Panzani, Raynal and Roquelaure, etc.) which interrupted production on Monday at its four main sites in the face of the explosion in energy prices, hopes that this stop “will not exceed a month” , according to a spokesperson.
“The goal is for production to resume as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said. “We have no duration (…), we hope that it (the shutdown of the factories) will not exceed a month”, he continued.
Inflation ends up “overwhelming” the group
Announcing in early December these measures taken to “deal with the spectacular rise in energy costs”, the group’s president Mathieu Thomazeau argued that the company could “no longer suffer waves of inflation which ended in (the) submerge”.
Cofigeo has shut down its factories in Pouilly-sur-Serre (Aisne), Lagny-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne), Capdenac (Aveyron) and Camaret-sur-Aigues (Vaucluse), which supply 80% of its production and employ 800 employees, out of 1,200. To this end, a long-term partial activity agreement (APLD) has been signed with the representative unions.
The gas and electricity bill needed to cook and sterilize ready meals increased tenfold last year, an increase which comes on top of the increase in the prices of the raw materials used – notably beef, pork and tomatoes – packaging and transportation, depending on management. “There is no risk of shortage”, the group having built up stocks, however assured the spokesperson, recalling that its “products could be kept between two and three years”.