Toulouse (France) (AFP) – The Toulouse commercial court will deliver its decision on November 12 on the short-term future of the Fiber Excellence pulp mill, in Haute-Garonne, placed in receivership since the end of April.

Published on: 03/11/2026 - 11:53

The date of the deliberation was set on Tuesday following a closed-door hearing devoted to securing the site with a view to restarting at the end of 2027, we learned from the judicial representative.

The Fiber Excellence group (670 employees) requested in April to be placed in receivership.

The liquidation of its Tarascon factory (Bouches-du-Rhône), identical to that of Haute-Garonne, has already been declared this summer.

As of October 23, the deadline set by the Toulouse commercial court, no firm offer to take over Fiber Excellence Saint-Gaudens has been filed.

However, the Portuguese paper group Ghost is considering "the relaunch of paper pulp production and the development of high value-added processing activities", according to the Occitanie region.

The judicial representative indicated that professional security contracts (CSP) will be offered for one year to some 300 employees of the company, a France Travail system intended to preserve the availability of this qualified workforce with a view to resuming activity at the end of 2027, according to the project of the Portuguese company Ghost.

“We knew that we were not going to escape liquidation. It’s hard, but also positive because there is a project behind it,” reacted union delegate Nicolas Bruel after a hearing before the Toulouse commercial court.

The court considers that it is “a very serious project”, adds the judicial representative.

With the prospect of a relaunch in a year's time of the Saint-Gaudens factory, the economic heart of an economically devastated territory, "the security of employees is fundamental", as is "the maintenance of the industrial site", underlines a source close to the matter.

To this end, around thirty employees will continue to ensure its maintenance.

A working meeting is scheduled for next week between the State, the Occitanie region and the Portuguese industrialist, who plans to install a diaper and toilet paper production unit on the Saint-Gaudens site.

After injecting nearly 300 million euros into the Fiber Excellence group, its Indonesian shareholder Jackson Wijaya threw in the towel in the spring, highlighting the company's lack of profitability and refusing to invest again.

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.