Tunisia has resumed phosphate rock exports and expects to ship more than 300,000 mt this year, according to a Reuters report, citing a senior official from the state-run producer Compagnie des Phosphates de Gafsa (CPG).
The exports are the first appreciable phosphate rock volumes to be shipped from the country in more than seven years.
CPG also is targeting to increase exports to at least 600,000 mt next year, according to the report.
The North African country, which is suffering its worst financial crisis, is seeking to regain its position as a leading exporter of phos rock to take advantage of surging fertilizer and fertilizer raw materials prices.
Tunisian phosphate production was badly hit by the social unrest in the country in the years that followed the Arab Spring of late 2010-early 2011, with long-running worker sit-ins and strikes at the mine sites, as well as transport blockades.
Phosphate rock production fell from 8.13 million mt/y in 2010 to between some 3.2-4.4 million mt/y, after sinking to a low of 2.5-2.6 million mt/y in 2011 and 2012, according to IFA data.
Exports plummeted from just under 700,000 mt in 2010 to 85,000 mt in 2012. After 2014, export volumes were negligible, causing billions of dollars in lost revenues.
In 2019, Tunisia even turned to importing phosphate rock, taking in 23,600 mt and 93,000 mt the following year, according to IFA data.
In the first quarter of 2022, Tunisia’s phosphate rock production reached 1.13 million mt, a near 750,000 mt increase on the same year-ago period, CPG reported in early April (GM April 8, p. 12).
The official sited by this week’s report said with the realization now of sufficient stocks for local customers – which include CPG’s sister company, phosphate fertilizer producer, Groupe Chimique Tunisien (GCT) – the state-run phosphate rock producer is speeding up the pace of exports.
CPG is targeting phosphate rock production of 5.5 million mt this year, compared to 3.7 million mt last year, and near pre-Arab Spring export sales levels next year, the official said, as cited by the report.
According to an earlier report by Tunisie Numérique, citing unnamed “informed sources,” CPG reached an agreement with French company Relais to resume phosphate rock supplies after a gap of 11 years. The producer is also reported to have been in talks for potential phosphate rock export sales with Turkey, Brazil, Indonesia, and Pakistan.