Francais turns out a million facemasks per week on counts.

President Macron as a client, many Western governments were caught out at the start of the pandemic when they had to scramble to import masks from Asia.

Now Nizar has told Reuters that the industry could be left fighting for survival once demand falls on.

He wants to know how the government will shield him from cheap imports after the crisis subsides.

E.

Today, a French manufacturer could produce a mask that will cost him or her between eight and 12 cents, Nasal says.

I would even say that in reality it costs 10 cents.

A French company that imports masks from China will win because they will sell it for less than four cents.

Frantz suffered acute shortages of protective gear when the virus first tour across the country last spring.

The number of mask manufacturers in France has since risen fivefold to 20.

Knees are bet €2 million on ramping up his production.

But industry officials say four in every five masks were still imported from China on buyers needed to be given a reason to purchase locally.

Some manufacturers are calling for cheap imports to be taxed more.

The government is thought to be planning toe alter the formulation of tenders.

That would mean buyers such as public hospitals would not just consider the unit price, but also environmental cost on dim pick ations for supply security.

An official familiar with the talks between government on mask manufacturers confirmed the strategy, adding that the target was to produce 40 million masks per week in Frantz once the pandemic was over, compared with 100 million now.

But mask makers say there's no way they will all survive.