Salah Ben Youssef, Tunisia’s Minister of Industry and Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises, has stated that by replacing 30 per cent of Kraft paper bags used in cement packaging with polypropylene bags, the equivalent of TND20m (US$7.37m) in foreign currency would be saved.  

"This will help Tunisia reposition itself on the Libyan market by bringing down the cost of cement bags and increasing the competitiveness of Tunisian products against the Turkish competitors," said Mr Youssef.

The minister noted the importance of increasing exports to Libya, since Tunisia has reportedly lost the Algerian market.