Losses and profits. You can never be too careful. To avoid any headache in this hectic return to school, the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, made the detour on Monday, September 6 to the plant of the French company Seqens, in Roussillon (Isère), which will produce paracetamol in 2023. , the active ingredient of the famous Doliprane. The head of government wanted to make it the symbol of his new policy to revive French industry since Seqens, a leader in this field, for the moment sources its supplies from its two Chinese factories. Thanks to the recovery plan and its generous subsidies, paracetamol is once again French.
Earlier today, Jean Castex celebrated the benefits of the same plan at the inauguration of the Global Industrie trade fair in Lyon. And, in fact, the first objective of this policy aimed at revitalizing the French economy after the shock of the health crisis, seems to have been achieved. According to the Prime Minister, almost half of the envelope of 100 billion euros has been distributed and it will be 70% by the end of the year. Of this considerable mass, more than a third is intended for industry. One in three industrial companies has had a project financed by the State, according to the Minister of Industry, Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
Soaring costs
The will and the generosity of the State are in any case appreciated. According to a survey of the movement of intermediate companies (between 250 and 5,000 employees), net job creations are at their highest level since 2009 and investments have jumped by 42% compared to 2019, mainly thanks to industry .
But beware, the current upturn is cyclical. State aid is boosting construction which, in turn, stimulates demand for intermediate building goods, a French specialty. For the rest, no indicator has yet confirmed a rebound in French industry compared to its neighbors. However, of all the European countries, it is France which, in spite of proactive political speeches for decades, has let its industry slip the most.
Faced with soaring costs, wages and taxes, it has not been able, or knew, to innovate and invest to fight against competition, not from China but from Germany, Switzerland, Italy or from Spain. You cannot prosper by combining German costs and Spanish quality. All the more so since the challenge of innovation is now coupled with an imperative of decarbonisation which will inevitably affect the price and the quality requirement of the products. Never has this challenge of moving upmarket been so compelling, and it will take more than paracetamol factories to meet it.