Profits expected by the Gafsa Phosphates Company (CPG) and the Tunisian
Chemical Group (GCT) will not exceed 200 million dinars (MTD) in 2011 compared with 825
MTD in 2010, said CEO of the two companies Kais Dali.
Speaking at a news conference held on Tuesday in Tunis, he also said that “the two companies could have made profits of 1,000 MTD, given the increase in the price of phosphate in the world market, if there were not repeated sit-ins that prevented the extraction, transportation and processing of phosphates.”
The production capacity of GCT did not exceed 45% (733 thousand tons of phosphates) of that of 2010 (1 million 670 thousand tons), he specified.
On its part, the CPG produced only 30% of its capacity this year (3 million tons) compared to 8 million tons in 2010.
Regarding employment, Mr. Dali announced the creation of 14,600 jobs in different companies operating in the phosphates sector from 2011 to 2014, i.e. 3,000 jobs in the CPG, 1,600 in the GCT as direct jobs and nearly 10,000 jobs as indirect jobs in other companies operating in environment and maintenance.
According to the CEO of CPG and GCT, both companies will face major challenges in 2012.
Indeed, the world demand in phosphates is expected to decline as a result of the global economic crisis, in addition to the decrease in phosphate prices that began in December.
“The company can reconquer its markets in over 100 countries only through the resumption of continuous production and by winning back the confidence of customers such as Turkey which imports 90% of its needs in this product from Tunisia and that has turned to other countries to meet its needs.”
He said that two units of the company have resumed their activities in Skhira (Sfax) and Gabes, pending the restart of other production units in Gafsa.
Regarding the project of the Tunisian-Indian fertilizers company, whose construction works have faced several difficulties, it will be completed within six months and will provide 400 jobs, said Mr. Dali.
