Spanish Employers Complain About The Damages Of The Crisis With Algeria

Spain’s losses continue due to the worsening diplomatic crisis with Algeria, which is continuing for more than six months since its outbreak.

These losses included almost all sectors, and although the energy and gas sector, in particular, was the most affected, other strategic sectors also suffer from the repercussions of this crisis, prompting the government of Pedro Sanchez to rush to fix what could be fixed before incurring more losses.

The latest statistics in this regard revealed that the activities related to the ceramics sector have been largely affected by the unofficial boycott imposed on Spanish products and Spain’s losses rose to 40 million euros over the six months that followed the outbreak of the crisis between the two countries.

Spain is a global manufacturer of glass and ceramics, products that are largely demanded by Algerians because they consider that the coloured glass and ceramics gave a beautiful desired design that is close to their cultural architecture and home decorations.

After Italy, Algeria is the main market to which Spanish companies exported these products before the diplomatic rupture that occurred last March.

According to Spanish media reports, the Association of Companies “ANFFECC”, which joined the majority of the Spanish ceramic frits, glazes and ceramic pigment producers, estimated the losses of the ceramics sectors at about 40 million euros.

The same sources said that at the beginning of last summer, losses were in the range of only 25 million euros, and now the number has almost doubled. For this reason, they asked their government to find “a diplomatic solution to the conflict as soon as possible.”

What is interesting about the case is that Spanish businessmen also confirmed that the “Algerians do not accept the products of Spanish companies that come from production plants located in other countries. This led to the complete disappearance of trade relations in the ceramic “glaze” sector with Algeria”.

Previously, Algeria suspended the Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation and Good Neighborliness with Spain last June, which has been in force since 2002, a decision that followed the confirmation of the Spanish Prime Minister on his sudden shift in position on the issue of Western Sahara before his country’s parliament, despite the warnings that Algeria has addressed to him.

The ceramic sector is also included in the so-called “condensed gas”, which is known for its high energy consumption because many materials used in the ceramic sector are subjected to a series of chemical elements in a furnace process at temperatures above 1500°C, to cool it later and thus obtain the basic component of the ceramic coating.

The smelting process includes high gas consumption at a time when Spain is living amid a burning gas crisis after Algeria decided to cut gas exports to Madrid, to the quantities stipulated in the agreements signed between Sonatrach and Naturgy, this is why the Spaniards are rushing today to search for other sources of energy, to compensate for the shortfall in the quantities of gas coming from Algeria.

The suffering of Spanish exporters is not limited to companies in the ceramics sector, but also to all other export sectors, such as red meat, paper, and raw materials used in the pharmaceutical industry as Algerian importers have resorted to other alternative countries such as Turkey, China and Italy.