At the end of the third quarter of the current financial year in Bizerte, the country’s oldest cement plant (founded in November 1950 and listed on the stock exchange in October 2009 at DT11.5), had not produced a single kilo of clinker, the raw material of cement. No clinker for a year means no cement.
Figures from SCB (Société des Ciments de Bizerte) show a fall in cement production of 81.7% (16.7 thousand tons compared with 91.8 million tons).
Turnover (local sales and income from the wharf owned by SCB) fell by more than 68% and is no longer measured in millions of Tunisian dinars but in hundreds of thousands of dinars.
As for exports, SCB has had none since the 10,856 tons of the 3rd quarter of 2023! To make matters worse, SCB has not been able to meet its commitments to its suppliers and creditor banks!
A cascade of declines with a domino effect
According to the latest quarterly activity indicators, the company’s management explains these declines firstly by the fact that ‘clinker production was suspended during the entire 3rd quarter of 2024’. This suspension was due to the lack of fuel, namely petroleum coke, the only possible source of energy for the kiln, after the company’s financial difficulties prevented it from importing this material.
Cement production in the third quarter of 2024 totaled 16,796 tons, 75,020 tons less than the 91,816 tons produced in the same period of 2023, a decrease of 81.70%.
The local turnover of Société les Ciments de Bizerte during this 3rd quarter of 2024 decreased by –TND 18,086,855 (Tunisian Dinars), i.e. -77.43% compared to the same period of 2023, going from TND 23,358,027 to TND 5,271,172 in 2024.
This decrease is mainly due to the total cessation of clinker production during this period. The total turnover of Les Ciments de Bizerte during this 3rd quarter of 2024 experienced the same decrease due to the total absence of exports.
During the 3rd quarter of 2024, the activity of unloading petroleum coke from ships generated a tax-free income of TND 1,204,906, following the unloading of petroleum coke from six (06) ships for a total of 100,400 tons.
Management admits things are going very badly!
The management of Ciments de Bizerte admits this right at the beginning of the press release on the indicators for the 3rd quarter. The ongoing financial crisis and the accumulation of debt have exacerbated the company’s economic difficulties.
Worse still, echoing the case of El Fouledh, which is now surviving on scrap metal, “given the collapse of its normal activity in the cement industry, it is limited to grinding clinker imported from abroad or purchased locally, and unloading ships carrying petcoke for other cement works”.
Commenting on its debt situation, the management of the state-owned cement company, whose board of directors includes representatives of 6 ministries, stated that ‘given the company’s ongoing financial crisis, it has not been able to meet its commitments to its suppliers or its bank debts.
At the end of this quarter, total bank debt increased by TND 5,724,183 compared to December 31, 2023, due to the accumulation of interest on arrears and rescheduling, while operating loans increased by TND 5,265,635, also due to the accumulation of interest on arrears and rescheduling’.
What’s next?
SCB’s figures show a total debt of more than TND 131,563,170 (including almost TND 102 million in capital), with a capital of TND 44,047,294 in 2023 (TSE figures).
Thus, what the press release of the Tunisian state cement producer presented as “prospects for the 4th quarter” (“resumption of clinker production, import of petroleum coke and refractory bricks to start up the kiln and continuity of clinker imports”) seems to be no more than a dream, in color and in 3D, at least for the remainder of the 2024 financial year!
For the time being, Fatma Thabet, Minister of Industry, where she has spent most of her career, not counting the 5 years in Bizerte where she was CEO of the Business Park, seems to be looking the other way and letting time take its course, although time is not the best ally in such cases, as it is always a question of money. Nor have we seen any SCB files go through a Cabinet meeting or the Council of Ministers.
