A violent shock, a sharp fall and painful losses… coronavirus is more than a virus. It spreads terror wherever it goes and sweeps away everything in its path.
COVID-19 has plunged the world into an unprecedented crisis. Indeed, its deadly and sudden passage has marked a turning point in history… Empires and economic powers are on their knees unable to confront this invisible giant…
Tourism, industry, culture and education… all the different sectors have been at a standstill for more than a month in Tunisia.
The health crisis linked to the spread of the coronavirus has paralyzed all industrial and cultural activities and put thousands of people out of work.
Countries, cities and regions have not been spared and have been hit hard by the health crisis.
In the turmoil of the past several months, the mining basin in southern Tunisia has been brutally impacted by the coronavirus, whose repercussions are beginning to be felt.
Indeed, according to data published by the Ministry of Energy Thursday, May 7, the total phosphate production, the overall volume of phosphate production, has reached 1.6 million tons as of May 5, a decrease of 17% while the Gafsa Phosphates Company (CPG) expected a production of 1.9 million tons.
At the beginning of the year, 1,620,211 tons of phosphates were produced at the sites operated by GPC, compared to a projection of 1,945,985 tons.
According to the data presented, phosphate extraction amounted to almost 2.5 million tons, compared with a forecast of 4.7 million tons, a decrease of 48%.
The same source also reported that 1.1 million tons of phosphates were transported to washing plants from the beginning of the year until May 5, mainly by locomotives (51% of the quantity transported) and lorries (45%).
With the start of the targeted de-confinement on May 4, 2020, the CPG has taken the decision to increase its workforce to 50% of its capacity in order to resume its activities at its various sites, compared to 30% during the lockdown period.
The mining basin and phosphate production are not experiencing their best days and the structural problems are not new.
Protests have undermined its production. One crisis followed by another, that of the coronavirus, which paralyzed production.
Following this, Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh decided, at a cabinet meeting to form a working team that will participate in the establishment of a strategic vision for a comprehensive treatment of the concerns of the mining basin, as well as urgent solutions to enable the resumption of production.
Indeed, production interruptions and the current health crisis have had a negative impact on all the Company’s commercial and technical indicators and brought about a drop in phosphate exports. The halt in phosphate transport has led to huge losses estimated at 400 million dinars per year.
According to data available on the CPG site, phosphate production had reached 7.28 million tons 10 years ago.
Falling fuel prices
Still on the mining side, it should be noted that in the wake of the drop in oil prices on the world markets due to the decline in global demand and an increasingly high supply, the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Energy Transition announced Thursday the decision to reduce selling prices of unleaded gasoline, sulphur-free gasoil and normal gasoil by 1.5%.
Prices for other hydrocarbon products remain unchanged.
The decision to cut prices was taken by the technical committee in charge of setting and monitoring the selling prices of imported finished petroleum products and those refined locally.
