Berazategui, March 31 (NA) -- Rigolleau, one of the country's leading glass material factories, which with over 800 workers was dedicated to producing bottles, flasks, and other packaging for laboratories, breweries, and other industries, reduced its local production and began importing from China after losses of $5.5 billion in 2025. It now operates at 60% of its installed capacity and has shut down one of its furnaces, a decision that implied about 100 fewer jobs, as the Argentine News Agency (Agencia Noticias Argentinas) was able to verify. 700 workers remain at the plant.
A context of low consumption "forced it to maintain constant funding levels to protect employment and guarantee operational continuity," the company stated in its sustainability report sent to the National Securities Commission (CNV). It added, "The lower activity and productive idleness derived from this context negatively affected costs and operational profitability, despite efforts to improve production efficiency, renegotiate conditions with suppliers, and optimize the cost structure."
"The company must change its traditional business model," it had acknowledged in the balance sheet presented in February. It only exports 5% to Uruguay and Paraguay. From now on, the lines linked to household consumption and tableware will be supplied mainly with Chinese imports, which are even cheaper than those manufactured locally, even including shipping and packaging. In parallel, the company keeps active the units linked to the pharmaceutical and food sectors, where demand remains more stable. Even so, the report itself warns that the drop in sales is the main explanation for the poor results and that the improvements of the first months of 2025 barely cover the previous collapse.
The pending evaluation is whether Rigolleau can continue to operate as a going concern.
It's that small plates are no longer used because they have been replaced by ceramics.
Shareholding Structure
As a corporation, Rigolleau S.A. has shareholders, with Industrias Integrales del Vidrio S.A. being the main one, with almost 74% of the shares. It was founded in 1882 by León Fourvel Rigolleau. However, the company is linked to the work trajectory developed in its facilities by the Argentine businessman and layman, Enrique Ernesto Shaw, the first to be beatified by the Vatican and known as the "businessman of God." Founder and first president of ACDE, Shaw strongly promoted the Social Doctrine of the Church in the business world. Despite his desire to leave the company to work directly with the workers, he was encouraged to remain in that area to transform it from within, a mission that marked his life and his legacy.
Broken Glass
The negative result for last year doubled the collapse of 2024, when Rigolleau reported losses of $2,599,109,500. Rigolleau directs 95% of the production of its Home line (plates, glasses, cups, tableware, etc.) to the domestic market.
