Venvidrio is reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy
Recent reports claim that Venvidrio looks to be very close to bankruptcy, due to serious problems regarding its operational capacity, raw material inventories and lines.
Venezolana del Vidrio (Venvidrio) is reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy. In fact, 90% of its operational capacity is paralyzed, raw material inventories are empty and nine of the 11 lines are damaged.
The machinery of the plant located in Los Guayos, east of Carabobo, has deteriorated since October 2010 when the national leader ordered the expropriation of Owens-Illinois (O-I) Venezuela.
At that time, the company supplied more than 60% of the national demand for glass containers for the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, with 2.1 million units per year.
The expectations of the Government at the beginning of its administration were to raise those numbers up to 6 million.
Today they do not reach a million and only manufacture glass containers for liqueurs and mayonnaise, according to Hernán Serrano, a member of the Frente Amplios de Trabajadores of the region.
Compounding the problems is a lack of soda ash, which has to be imported.
600 Venvidrio workers have been dismissed, according to the newspaper report.