$18 million to upgrade Tunisian phosphate sector

The Tunisian corporation for phosphates, a public sector company, invested $18 million, to upgrade its production to face the increasing competition in international markets.

The corporation's estimates expect that its phosphate production will increase to 8 million tons this year.

Statistics show that the volume of Tunisian phosphate sales in the international markets rose to 1.2 million tons last year, an increase of 3% compared to the volume of sales during 1996.

Both China and Tunisia have agreed upon a mutual accord to expand a chemical factory affiliated to the Arab Chinese company in South Tunisia, as the Chinese promised to double the factory's production after the completion of the expansion, from 480,000 tons currently to 960,000 tons before the year 2000.