"Are we ready to see the Goncourt Prize printed abroad?" In their letter to Marc Ferracci, Minister Delegate for Industry, Mayenne Communauté and its elected representatives do not mince their words. For them, the situation of the printing industry in Mayenne, and more broadly in France, can no longer be ignored: it calls for a clear commitment from the State in support of a sector that is currently in a fragile state.
A sector caught between financial constraints and bank blocking
Drawn up by the local authority's departments and the department's MPs, the letter submitted to the Minister on May 27 sets out an observation that has long been shared by professionals in the sector.
The first point concerns the derogation from the LME law, which allows certain principals - notably publishing houses - to impose extended payment terms. This practice puts a heavy strain on printers' cash flow.
Secondly, costs continue to rise, particularly those of paper, whose supply remains under pressure in an unstable geopolitical and environmental context.
Added to this is the acceleration of technology. To stay in the race, printers have to invest heavily, whether in digital technology, personalized print runs or reducing their carbon footprint.
But access to financing remains blocked for many, as banks regard the sector as risky. In the absence of support, these often undercapitalized companies find it difficult to embark on their transformation.
And in the background, the trend towards offshoring is growing... "Several publishing houses are already starting to outsource a growing proportion of their printing, due to the lack of a sufficiently well-supported French ecosystem." using "other European countries with very low labor costs".
Hubert Pédurand: we must act "not for the nostalgia of paper, but for what it embodies"
"These elements weaken the entire value chain, threatening skilled jobs, know-how and locally-anchored companies." And the signatories point out that several industrial sites in the Mayenne Communauté region are currently experiencing difficulties. Corlet Roto in Ambrières-les-Vallées, a subsidiary of the Normandy-based Corlet Group, is a perfect example of this unfortunately . The shutdown of this rotary offset plant, scheduled for the end of June, marks the end of a site with a long history in Mayenne.
For Hubert Pédurand, head of the Mayenne printing company Floch, which regularly produces major literary prizes, these signals need to be taken seriously. In a post on LinkedIn, the entrepreneur also calls for full recognition of the industry in French industrial policy: "Not for the nostalgia of paper, but for what it embodies: cultural sovereignty, the transmission of knowledge, territorial roots, industrial innovation."
Elected representatives want strategic recognition at national level
Mayenne Communauté's elected representatives are calling for a structured dialogue between publishers and printers, under the aegis of the business ombudsman, as well as the introduction of targeted investment support schemes. Above all, they call for political recognition of the graphics industry, commensurate with its role in culture, industrial sovereignty and regional structuring.
On a national scale, the situation in Mayenne is by no means isolated. But for its elected representatives, it's precisely because the phenomenon is widespread that it merits a strategic response at the highest level of government. For "Are we ready to see, tomorrow, the Goncourt Prize printed in Poland or elsewhere, simply because we haven't been able to protect, modernize and make our graphics industry competitive?"
