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Plexiglas tears off at a high price thanks to deconfinement

2020-05-13T17:33:18.035Z


Indispensable for the takeover of many businesses, the walls of Plexiglas are out of stock at most distributors. Prices are rising and delivery times can reach four months.


The surgical mask is not the only fashionable attribute in this period of deconfinement. Across the country, small merchants with large brands and bistros at airports, large polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) plates, better known under the brand name Plexiglas, are being installed to protect employees and customers from undesirable postilions. As a result, the price of PMMA sheets has soared, with some models that are worth more than twice their usual value today. Worse, some orders placed this week by distributors will not arrive before the fall, when the usual delay is one to three weeks.

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One of my suppliers offered me a plate of 3 meters by 2 at 497 euros instead of normally 150 euros, immediately annoyed Philippe Schreiber, the founder of DKO Attitude, a screen printing and commercial decoration company in Port-sur-Saône (Haute-Saône). And in addition, the color was smoked because they no longer have anything transparent before July! José Da Cunha, the manager of the Red Card store in Reims (Marne), explains that he " managed to pay a plate at 120 euros " by working with a supplier he knows well, while others offered him " the same plates for 300 euros. "

If it is difficult to give an order of magnitude of the increase in PMMA prices at the national level, the stakeholders questioned estimate it between 30 and 100%. " The price has soared," explains Yannick Eck, technical sales representative for the Alsatian distributor Sepib. If we remain loyal to our usual manufacturers it is around 30% increase depending on the brand. But the bill can double when we go through new distributors who help us out with a few plates with shorter deadlines. "

Demand doubled

If prices are rising, it is because the demand for PMMA plates has doubled since the start of containment, according to the stakeholders interviewed. " The two weeks before the deconfinement, the phone rang every minute, from morning to evening, " breathes Yanick Eck. As a corollary to the explosion in demand, stock outs have become widespread and delivery times have been multiplied by three or four.

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" There has been a general rupture throughout Europe following this explosion in demand for PMMA ," continues Yanick Eck. Today the factories that deliver to us have lead times of 12 to 15 weeks, instead of one to three. Deliveries we make now will not arrive until September to November. " We will not have PMMA before the end of June," we confirm at TIM, a Reims reseller. So we try to troubleshoot our customers by looking for other materials that replace a little, such as polypropylene. "

New distributors

To try to understand who benefits from inflation, we have traced the thread of PMMA in France. The world market leader is called Altuglas International and has a factory in the Grand Est, in Saint-Avold (Moselle). Altuglas Europe Director Jean-Luc Béal initially confirms to Le Figaro that demand has been “ multiplied by two or three ” since the start of confinement on the protective walls and that “ producers in Europe, including Altuglas is one of them, did not have the capacity to supply this request on time, hence the deadlines which can go up to three months .

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But Jean-Luc Béal ensures that Altuglas has " not used this opportunity to raise prices ". " There may have been slight additional costs due to logistical or operational difficulties during confinement, " he conceded, but " very far from the figures that can be seen from two to three times the initial price ". According to him, this surge in prices is not due to the manufacturers, but “ of the very many new distributors that we did not know before, and who take advantage of the shortage to recover customers ready to pay very high prices to reduce delays. "

"Speak on the hygienic phone"

Another name has been wrongly associated with PMMA since the beginning of the containment, that of the famous Hygiaphone, dear to the rock group Telephone. " We have nothing to do with Plexiglas. The Hygiaphone is made of metal and glass and it is a brand patented by the Figet company since 1946, ”says one at Figet. Here too, requests have increased since the start of containment, but by 40% " only ". And for now, no stock shortage in sight.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-05-13

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