Under a springtime sun and in front of rows of smiling high school students, eager to apply for a possible employment or apprenticeship contract, French President Emmanuel Macron laid the foundation stone for a new production line at an ammunition powder factory in Bergerac, east of Bordeaux, on Thursday, April 11. The move was designed to highlight the progress made by the "war economy," particularly in terms of local employment, since its launch in the summer of 2022, shortly after the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

On the premises of Eurenco, 100% owned by the French state, Macron expressed his satisfaction at the resurgence of this company of 900 employees – including 330 in Bergerac – with annual sales of €190 million, which had been struggling to survive within its decrepit walls until the outbreak of war, before suddenly regaining a central role in the global munitions race. A "beautiful symbol," according to the French president, which should create 250 jobs in Bergerac alone by 2025 – and as many in the rest of the group – thanks to the very sharp rise in international orders since mid-2023: + €1.2 billion.

"We're on the verge of a lasting geopolitical shift (...) in which the defense industry will play an increasingly important role," said Macron, wearing a safety helmet, with the plant's expansion site behind him, which had been launched in record time. "We've got to go fast, we've got to go hard, we've got to go big," he added, shortly before a working lunch with the major heads of the French arms industry, including those from Dassault, Naval Group and Nexter, who had also been invited to the site.

Until now, Eurenco's shortcomings have been one of the causes of the bottleneck to the European ammunition industry's revival, as the number of powder manufacturers is very limited. But according to Thierry Francou, Eurenco's CEO, the group, which has subsidiaries in Sweden, Belgium and soon the US, has already doubled its production in the space of a year. By 2025, it should be able to double its production of explosives and powders for small calibers, and by tenfold for large calibers, such as the 155 mm shells in great demand by the Ukrainians. This means a capacity of 200,000 shells per year by the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026.

To achieve this, Eurenco has put in place a plan both to relocate its powder production, which used to come mainly from Germany, and a €500 million investment program. €76 million of this comes from the support action for ammunition production, this new financial instrument created by the European Commission, mid-2023, to revive the ammunition industry in Europe.

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