“Profits of the Gafsa Phosphate Company (CPG) reached less than 200 million Tunisian dinars (MTD) in 2011, while they could have reached 1 billion dinars, if the CPG had kept the same output and exports as in 2010,” said CPG and Tunisian Chemical Group (GCT) CEO Kais Dali.
Mr. Dali added, during a meeting with the press, that these earnings have been achieved thanks to the rise of the world phosphate prices in 2011.
These revenues have somehow compensated the limited quantities exported in 2011, a year when CPG’s production and exports were, on several occasions, blocked and disrupted by stoppages and sit-ins, he added.
According to the CPG CEO, a one-day production stoppage in the company and the Chemical Group represents a loss of 3 MTD.
“CPG managed, during the first 2012 term, to win back the trust of its traditional customers, notably, the European ones, after having lost several markets in 2011, as a result of the missed delivery dates,” he also said.
Compared with the first quarter of 2011, production of CPG went up –this year, during the 1st term– by 37% for CPG and by 60% for GCT, Mr. Dali said, specifying, that compared with the same period of 2010, CPG and GCT’s productions dropped by 62% and 42% respectively. Henceforth, the company adopted a “new export strategy” which consists in storing raw phosphate in the ports to ensure delivery on scheduled dates, he further said.