LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has pledged to help address the surgical mask shortage France is currently facing. By virtue of its global distribution network, the company has managed to secure an order with a Chinese industrial supplier for a delivery of 10 million masks (seven million surgical masks and three million FFP2 masks) in the coming days.
The order will be repeated for at least four weeks in similar quantities (i.e. approximately 40 million masks), the Parisian company said in a media release.
“In order to secure this order during an extremely tense period and to ensure that production begins today (March 21), Bernard Arnault (LVMH chief executive) arranged for LVMH to finance the whole of the first week of deliveries, amounting to €five million,” the release added.
The LVMH Group will assume management of the supply chain, delivery and custom clearance for all subsequent deliveries.
“LVMH should be in a position to dispatch the first masks to French health authorities early next week as a result of the additional funding and the group’s ability to rapidly deploy its network,” the company said.
The step to address surgical masks shortage, comes close on the heels of LVMH retooling its Perfumes & Cosmetics production units to manufacture and distribute large quantities of hydroalcoholic gel free of charge.
