The chemical company ALKIMIA achieved a total turnover of 107.9 million dinars, at the end of 2023, compared with 164.3 million in 2022, down 34%.
Production amounted to 26,760 tons of sodium tri-polyphosphate (STPP), compared with 34,286 tons in 2022. This fall in production is due to a shortage of phosphoric acid, which caused the plants to shut down, and to a lower demand for STPP.
This situation of unstable phosphoric acid supply, which the company has been suffering from for more than eight years, has led most of its major customers to abandon STPP and replace it with other substitutes with more stable and cheaper prices.
However, even if the prices of raw materials, in particular phosphoric acid and sodium carbonate, fell during 2023, the prices of these two raw materials remain quite high and the production costs remain high, making it impossible to compete with China and Russia.
As for the soluble crystallized MAP production unit, which was commissioned on June 1, 2021, it produced only 1,830 tons in 2023, out of a nominal capacity of 25,000 tons per year, due to the punitive pricing policy applied by the Tunisian Chemical Group for the supply of ammonia and phosphoric acid.
The prices charged by the Tunisian Chemical Group make the MAPc produced by Société Chimique ALKIMIA uncompetitive. As a result, the soluble MAP unit was shut down for more than 11 months in 2023.
Implementation of the first stage of the company’s restructuring plan began following the decision of the company’s Extraordinary General Meeting to increase the company’s capital by 20 million dinars. Subscriptions and payment of the first quarter relating to this increase have been completed by the major shareholders.
The delay in completing the capital increase is due to the lengthy administrative procedures required by the Tunisian Chemical Group to implement its participation in the capital increase.
This increase will be finalized and completed in the next few days, following its final approval by CAREPP, which will allow the implementation of the project to convert the U-1500 unit for the production of 80,000 tons of NPK granulate, with a planned investment of 12 million dinars.
