Pottery: the beginning of the end

KHARKIV — The famous Budy Pottery Factory in Kharkiv region has “expired,” or to put it another way, gone bankrupt. Today no one can afford to spend so much energy on glazing pottery.

The economy is a brutal thing. The factory management thinks the crisis could have been overcome if gas prices had remained stable for at least another few years. Another contributing factor was the Stop the Smuggling program, which decreased customs duties by six or seven times, and Chinese manufacturers were the first to benefit from this. Our national manufacturers are unable to compete with them. Chinese porcelain has flooded the market and knocked the price of pottery prices down, making them lower than the cost price.

Budy pottery is still in demand, though. To compete successfully with imported goods its price has to be 25 percent lower, and its decoration — richer. However, most of the factory’s mass-produced pottery is monochrome. If several colors are applied, costs instantly rise by 30 or 40 percent. As a result, further technological modernization was considered impossible, and the decision was made to close the factory. Bankruptcy proceedings officially started in May 2005. The shareholders’ committee, which represents 823 persons, none of whom is a majority shareholder, decided to liquidate the enterprise.

By late summer 960 workers, most of whom live in the small town of Budy (30 km from Kharkiv), where the factory is located, were laid off. There is nowhere to work because every fourth resident used to be employed by the factory. Dynasties consisting of several generations of pottery workers live there — sculptors, painters, and turners. In addition to obtaining a secondary education certificate, girls also graduated from the local school as professional painters, while boys were trained as turners.

To help the jobless an employment fair was held, involving several enterprises from other regions with adequate transport connections. Now the question of transport is the most serious problem. There are not enough buses to meet the challenge of transporting a higher number of passengers.

Yurii Bobriv, the head of the town council, would be glad if the only problem was transportation. The real problem is that residents over 35, who do not have any other occupations, are not being helped. All those people miserably look at the once prosperous factory that had guaranteed employment for many generations of workers. The club and the movie theater, which the enterprise built for the town, may be sold together with the rest of the facility.

There are a lot of theories explaining the real reasons behind the factory’s bankruptcy. They are given strength by the sudden appearance of the Folio-Druk Company, which has bought the factory’s debts from the banks and obtained the possibility to decide its future. Until recently no one had ever heard about this company, but for a long time many suspected that the factory was being readied for closing.

The factory management is talking about the possibility of putting the factory into operation again soon, but this time to produce a different product that will not have to compete directly with the Chinese one. If the factory restarts its operations, the workers will probably be rehired but there will be three times fewer of them. No one knows for sure who will decide the factory’s future or what sort of goods it is going to produce. Mr. Kozak claims he does not have the slightest idea of who the owner of Folio — Druk is or the main creditor’s plans for the future; so far he has not had an opportunity to meet the company’s representatives. Despite all the recent statements and press conferences, the fate of the factory remains uncertain, and the former factory workers are worried about the kilns. To survive the winter kilns must operate without interruption.