Soliver factory
is to close down

High energy costs

rendered products non competitive

Soliver, manufacturer of glass containers, will shut down its factory in Bchamoun within the next two months.

Omar Kaddoura, General Manager of Soliver, said: “The reason behind the closure is because we are losing our market share.”

He said that the investments required for upgrading machines is $30 million. The life cycle of glass industry machines is six years, and it is now time to upgrade them.

“We preferred not to invest such amounts,” he said.

The energy-intensive glass industry has high electricity costs. Soliver pays more than $3 million annually to generate its own electricity.

According to Kaddoura, the same glass products are imported to the market from Egypt and the Gulf at lower prices.

Soliver produces 140 tons of glass containers per day. It provides its products to 15 local manufacturers such as Interbrand, Pepsi, Kassatly Chtaura, among others.

The company has 250 full time employees. Kaddoura said that they agreed with the Ministry of Labor and the employees on severance compensation to compensate them with one month salary for each year of service.

Kaddoura said that the company will not be sold for the time being. “If the situation improves, we may decide to reopen the factory.”

The Kaddoura family owns several factories in Africa. It opened its local factory in 1957.