Liquidation of state coke manufacturer 4th public industry shutdown since 2018

The state-owned Nasr Company for Coke and Chemicals, one of the companies born out of the 1960s boom in state industry, is officially to be liquidated, the company’s general assembly decided on Monday, a member of Nasr's trade union committee told Mada Masr.

Nasr Coke is the fourth public business sector company to be liquidated since 2018. A decision to liquidate the company was first announced under former Public Enterprise Minister Hisham Tawfik, who announced in June 2021 that the coke company would be closed due to “severe losses.” 

A recent Cabinet reshuffle, which saw Tawfiq replaced with the incumbent minister Mahmoud Esmat, renewed hopes that the liquidation decision might be walked back, especially given one of Esmat’s first decisions upon assuming office was to postpone for three weeks a meeting that was due to seal the company’s fate. 

Negotiations began Monday on how to compensate around 1,200 laborers who will lose their jobs, with the public sector syndicate for workers in related industries sitting down across from the parent company. The union committee source said they would be asking for a minimum of LE300,000 each, a benchmark they described as vital given the vast majority of those employed have not worked long enough to be legally entitled to a full pension.

State industry shutdowns sparked contention over recent years, with the decision to liquidate Egyptian Iron and Steel in particular met by months of protests from some of the 7,500 workers affected, as well as from labor representatives and MPs. Nasr Coke was no exception, with MP Mostafa Bakry leveling criticism at Tawfik and contradicting the former minister to claim that Nasr Coke had achieved major profits in an August appearance on TV presenter Ahmed Moussa’s “Ala Masouliety” show on Sada al-Balad channel.

Aside from the losses Tawfik said spelled an end to Nasr Coke’s viability, environmental concerns also played a role in closing production lines, in the view of the trade union committee source who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity. The company, which processed fine coal into coke, a crucial production input in industries from sugar, to manganese, metal castings and steel, was unable to comply with government emissions limits, according to the source. It was granted temporary approvals by the ministry, but for ten years, development projects that could have brought the company’s emissions into line were abandoned, the source complained.

The parent company halted all development projects over recent years,” the source said, “to the extent that the holding company was fined LE50 million for its withdrawal from one of the coke company’s development projects.”

Ultimately, the Environment Ministry banned the company from importing coal, allowing it to continue production only until it finished its remaining coal stocks. Since August 2021, factory equipment has lain idle, and the company has continued only to sell off the product that remained. Some of the stock was exported until Egyptian companies began to face shortages as Russia’s offensive on Ukraine disrupted global supply chains, and the remainder of sales were limited to supplying domestic industries.