Manufacturing in Chad
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As of 1990, manufacturing in Chad was dominated by agribusiness, and Cotontchad in particular.[1] Next in importance were the National Sugar Company of Chad (Société Nationale Sucrière du Tchad—SONASUT), the Chadian Textile Company (Société Tchadienne de Textile—STT), the Logone Breweries (Brasseries du Logone—BdL), and the Cigarette Factory of Chad (Manufacture des Cigarettes du Tchad—MCT).[1] Observers estimated that these five industries generated some 20 percent of GDP.[1] Of lesser importance were the Farcha Slaughterhouse (Abattoir Frigorifique de Farcha), the Industrial Agricultural Equipment Company (Société Industrielle de Matériel Agricole du Tchad—SIMAT), and Soft Drinks of Chad (Boissons Gazeuses du Tchad—BGT).[1]
Before the warfare of the 1979-82 period, Chad's industrial sector included between 80 and 100 small and medium enterprises, in addition to the major manufacturing industries.[1] Most of these processed agricultural products, or competed in the import/export trade.[1] About half were local subsidiaries of foreign-owned firms or were Chadian firms with significant foreign capital.[1] The foreign-owned distributorships sold agricultural equipment, construction materials, and petroleum products.[1]
During the civil war in Chad (1979-1982), the facilities and equipment of many industries were badly damaged.[1] Most industrial operations either ceased or were reduced greatly, and almost all foreign investors withdrew from the country.[1] Those operations that did continue on a reduced scale were limited to the Soudanian region, which was not involved directly in large-scale fighting.[1] By 1983, with the re-establishment of political stability on a national scale, the five major industrial concerns resumed full operations, and the less significant ones, such as SIMAT and the BGT, were rebuilt.[1]
Post-war
Since 1983 the return of foreign investment has been slow because of the high costs of rebuilding and a continuing perception of political uncertainty.[1] Of the approximately twenty enterprises that had reopened by the late 1980s, most were import-export enterprises that lacked a formal relationship with the banking sector.[1] Most Chadian-owned enterprises had managed to re-establish themselves.[1] Yet by 1986, small enterprises that had assembled bicycles, motorcycles, and radios remained closed.
The lack of access to credit was another impediment to business expansion in Chad.[1] Despite the reopening in 1983 of the Bank of Central African States and of two commercial banks, the International Bank for Africa in Chad (Banque Internationale pour l'Afrique au Tchad—BIAT) and the Chadian Credit and Deposit Bank (Banque Tchadienne de Crédit et de Dépôt—BTCD), the high proportion of available credit going to Chad's major industries limited credit available to smaller enterprises.[1] Moreover, the banks invoked strict criteria for loan eligibility because of the high risk of lending in Chad.[1] Few owners of small businesses knew sufficient accounting and technical skills to meet bank information requirements for loans.[1]
Ownership
With the exception of the two bottling companies (the BGT and the BdL), which were privately owned, all the other important industries were either parastatals with majority government ownership or mixed companies with important government participation.[1] For the most part, private participation was limited to French investors; investment by private Chadian interests was extremely rare.[1] French companies were also important shareholders in the larger Chadian companies, such as Cotontchad.[1] Except for Cotontchad, whose top management was Chadian, all the other major industries were run by expatriate directors, accountants, and mid-level managers who, for the most part, were French.[1]
