Latin-American, Asian and African Requests on Algerian Electrical Industries

Sonelgaz seeks to achieve 15% of its turnover at the international level by 2026, Youcef Defdaf, President and CEO of the Algerian Company for Electric and Gas Industries (Sonelgaz), said.

In an interview with the magazine Indjazat “Achievements”, Defdaf added, “We have an ambitious goal regarding the international market, which is to enhance our exports. We closed the year 2022 with 2% of our turnover achieved at the international level. We intend to raise this share by a percentage point during this year before reaching 15% by 2025-2026”.

The spokesman confirmed that the company is currently studying many requests from Latin America, Asia and Africa, indicating in this regard that some projects will contribute to the increase of the company’s exports, especially those related to the manufacture of electric meters, in addition to the project of maintaining and manufacturing spare parts.

“In addition to exports, we have a special program to reduce imports in the field of services, including repair and maintenance, which will be developed at the level of our units,” he explained.

The Algerian Company for Electric and Gas Industries (Sonelgaz), which was established in May 2022 after a merger through fusion within the framework of the structure of the Sonelgaz group, includes three previous companies of the group: the “Rouiba Lighting” company specialized in the manufacture of public lighting equipment, electricity transmission and metal structures, and the National Corporation for Measuring and Monitoring Equipment (AMC), which is a unit for the manufacture of electricity and gas meters, as well as meters for fuel distribution, the Industrial Equipment Maintenance Corporation as well. The company has recently started the activity of manufacturing spare parts.

Regarding the financial results, the Algerian Company for Electric and Gas Industries achieved a turnover estimated at 17 billion DZD at the end of 2022, according to the company’s CEO, noting that “the goal set for this year is to “achieve a 26% increase in the turnover, thanks to the entry of the foundry of the maintenance and spare parts manufacturing unit in service”.

As for the manufacture of smart meters, Defdaf asserted that they have already been manufactured in two typical locations, noting that the Algerian Company for Electricity and Gas Industries is currently awaiting the approval of the final customer, which is Sonelgaz-Distribution (formerly the Algerian Electricity and Gas Distribution Company) to start manufacturing this type of meters in larger quantities.

In response to a question about the percentage of integration of the products of the Algerian Company for Electric and Gas Industries, the same official confirmed that this percentage varies according to the products. In general, it is estimated at 90% at the level of “Rouiba Lighting”, and at 55% at the “AMC”, and ranges between 50 to 60% for the manufacture of spare parts.

“We aim to make our products completely Algerian-made in the very short term, ie within five years, and to achieve an integration rate of more than 85%,” the official concluded.