Algeria builds an integrated phosphate industry while Tunisian output stays flat
Algiers signed two contracts on 12 August under its integrated phosphate project: port infrastructure at Annaba with China Harbour Engineering Company, and the installations at Bled El Hadba in Tébessa and Oued Kebrit in Souk Ahras with Italy's Saipem. Using a fast track formula, Algeria aims to produce enriched phosphate in the first quarter of 2027 and fertiliser in the fourth quarter of the same year, on exploitable reserves put at 840 million tonnes and a target of 10.5 million tonnes of raw phosphate a year. Tunisia has the industry and the experience but, on the figures of the ministry of industry, mines and energy, produced 3.04 million tonnes in 2024 against about 8.2 million in 2010, and the government's target of 14 million tonnes by 2030 has yet to show up in the output.