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(...) Domestic cereals production has not increased significantly during the last ten years, as the sector suffers from numerous measures that tend to discourage investment and trade in these products (see above): in addition to land fragmentation and the lack of water resources, the Grain Board is responsible for purchasing durum and common wheat on the domestic market at prices fixed by the State. (...)

Cereals exports are restricted by requiring authorizations (Section 3.2.3), so as to prevent subsidized products from being exported. Overall, this management of the cereals market and the resulting segmentation have proved very costly and do nothing to encourage innovation and the creation of new products, new markets, or new jobs, including for Tunisian specialty producers and exporters (for example, of the multi grain organic semolinas much in demand on some export markets).

Tunisia has imposed biological recovery requirements so as to ensure the sustainable exploitation and maintenance of fish stocks; these measures are financed by a tax on fish exports (1% of the value exported). The measures taken since 1 January 2010 include the obligation for exporters to have a catch certificate to show that the fishery products for export were not illegally caught, within the context of the cooperation between Tunisia and the EU in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Enterprises that export fishery products (fish, crustaceans and molluscs) and live bivalve molluscs must possess a sanitary approval certificate issued by the relevant authority. Moreover, the Government encourages industrial fishing units to adopt certified quality assurance systems (for example, HACCP, ISO 22000).

After 2011, labour disputes within the CPG (Gafsa Phosphate Company) resulted in a sharp fall in production. The CPG/GCT (Gafsa Phosphate Company/Tunisian Chemical Group) group is encountering serious environmental problems and its tailings do not meet the requirements of the Tunisian or international legislative framework on the protection of the environment, in particular of the marine ecosystems into which the waste is released; upgrading measures are apparently being taken to improve the situation.

(...) The authorities have introduced various energy efficiency programmes, which have helped to reduce the rate of increase in the demand.

(...) The National Energy Management Fund, a source of extra budgetary public support, is administered by the National Energy Management Agency (ANME) with a view to making rational use of energy and promoting renewables and alternative sources.

Electricity production (see below) consumes more than 73% of the national demand for natural gas. In March 2015, nearly 92% of Tunisian electricity was generated from natural gas (90% in 2005), the rest coming from other fuels: fuel oil and diesel (5% of total production), hydraulic turbines (0.4%) or wind energy (2.5%). Annual electricity production is shown in Table 4.8. The installed capacity is 5,200 MW, of which about 9% (471 MW) is owned by private producers (IPPs, see below). Demand is growing by 3.4% per year (average for 2010 2015). Renewable energy capacity is currently 295 MW (generated by STEG).

(...) Among recent developments, all investors, without distinction as to nationality, can now generate electricity for export provided they can satisfy the technical conditions for operating in the sector, such as those laid down by Law No. 12 2015 of 11 May 2015 on electricity generation using renewable energy. (...)

The Tunisian Solar Plan (PST) is an expression of the ambition to turn Tunisia into an export hub for clean electricity. Since October 2009, it has covered all the areas of energy efficiency in transport, building and energy intensive industries, as well as renewables (solar, wind, biomass). The plan envisages a generating capacity of 3.8 GW from renewables by 2030. In practical terms, the energy savings made during the period 2005 2010 reached 1.4 Mtoe in 2010, or 20% of the primary energy demand for 2004. [46]

[46] UNDP/ANME project: Private Sector Led Development of On-grid Wind Power in Tunisia.

(...) Electricity production has been open to self generators since 2002 for co generation and since 2009 for electricity generation from renewables. The relevant new legislation comprises Law No. 2009 7 of 9 February 2009 (PROSOL ELEC); Decree No. 2002 3232, supplemented by Decree No. 2009 3377 (co generation); Decree No. 2009 67 73 of 28 September 2009 (maximum power); and Decree No. 2009 2773 (renewable energy).