Why Tunisia in 2026
Three kinds of client keep Tunisian HVAC contractors busy: export factories in the industrial zones, hotels, and public works such as the airport and hospital programmes.
Offshore manufacturing in the industrial zones
In February 2025 the Ministry of Industry put the automotive components sector at about 300 companies, roughly 100,000 jobs and around USD 3 billion of exports. Wiring harnesses are a large part of it. Dräxlmaier, for example, has built vehicle wiring systems in Tunisia since 1974, with sites around Sousse and El Jem and a design office in Sousse.
Aerospace follows the same pattern. The US Commercial Service counts about 90 export-oriented aerospace companies in Tunisia, mostly French, employing about 20,000 people in 2022. Latécoère runs two aircraft cable factories, an aeronautical zone near the port of Radès builds Airbus sub-assemblies, and in April 2025 Mecachrome opened an extension at the El Mghira industrial park south of Tunis that doubles that site's output from about 2.5 million to 5 million parts a year.
A cabling plant is a large hall full of people, so it needs fresh air, air conditioning and long runs of large rectangular supply duct. Machining and surface treatment areas add extract duct, sometimes in heavier gauges or stainless steel. Clients like these expect documented leakage classes and consistent joints.
Hotels: refurbishment as much as new build
Tunisia received more than 11 million visitors in 2025, a record, and the Ministry of Tourism counted about 7.1 million non-resident arrivals from January to August 2026, roughly level with 2025. Figures from the Italian trade agency ICE, reported by La Presse in October 2026, put the number of closed hotels at 164 to 177, against 15 to 17 new hotels under construction with more than 4,000 rooms. That gives duct shops two streams of work: new hotels, and the reopening or upgrading of older coastal properties. Guest room fresh air, kitchen extract and conference halls are all duct-heavy.
Public works in Tunis and the regions
- Tunis-Carthage airport: in March 2026 the transport ministry dropped plans for a new airport and chose to expand Tunis-Carthage instead. About TND 3 billion is in the 2026 investment budget of the civil aviation and airports office (OACA), with a new terminal for 11 million passengers a year, a rebuilt and partly extended existing terminal, and total capacity rising from 5 million to 18.5 million passengers a year by 2031.
- Hospitals: a June 2026 ministry briefing listed the King Salman university hospital in Kairouan and regional hospitals in El Jem and Sbiba among projects under construction. The 105-bed regional hospital at Hafouz, a TND 95 million project, was reported at 20% complete in July 2026. Operating theatres and isolation rooms need tightly sealed ductwork; see our galvanised vs stainless comparison.
- Commercial work: offices, banks, clinics, shops and fit-outs in Greater Tunis, Sousse and Sfax make up the everyday order book of most duct shops.
Standards and codes for ductwork in Tunisia
We could not find a Tunisian duct construction code that replaces the European documents. Shops build to the project specification, which usually names European standards and is written in French.
- Tunisian standards (NT): published by INNORPI, the national standards and industrial property institute. INNORPI reported 17,517 Tunisian standards at the end of 2022 and says about 90% of them are aligned with ISO, IEC and CEN standards. We could not confirm NT editions of the duct standards below, so check the INNORPI catalogue if your client asks for NT references.
- EN 1505 and EN 1506: dimensions of rectangular and circular sheet metal ducts and fittings.
- EN 1507 and EN 12237: strength and air leakage requirements for rectangular and circular sheet metal ducts. The leakage class in the specification decides your seam, joint and sealing method. See our guide to air leakage classes.
- French practice: Tunisian specifications are commonly written in French and may cite NF EN editions and French DTU documents. NF DTU 68.3, for example, covers mechanical ventilation in residential buildings in France. Our France duct fabrication guide explains how these documents are used.
- Client and SMACNA standards: European groups running export plants often attach their own technical standards, and some international hotel brands write to SMACNA. If a job switches between SMACNA gauges and EN tables, confirm which governs before you cut metal; our gauge chart helps.
- Thermal regulation: Law 2004-72 on energy conservation requires new buildings to meet minimum energy specifications, and a joint order of 23 July 2008 sets them for new office-type buildings of 500 m² or more. It drives envelope and HVAC load rather than duct construction, but it pushes designers toward tighter, better insulated systems.
Taokron machines are CE marked and ship with a Declaration of Conformity, electrical diagrams and component lists. Ask your transitaire whether clearance needs any extra documents, such as manuals in French.
Importing duct machinery into Tunisia
- Import VAT (TVA): 19%, the standard rate, calculated on the customs value plus duties and other taxes. Reduced rates of 13% and 7% apply only to specific operations.
- Customs duty: depends on the exact tariff line (folding, bending and forming machines are usually under HS 8462) and on the country of origin. For 2024 the US Commercial Service reports that 35.2% of Tunisia's MFN tariff lines were duty-free. A customs formality fee of 3% of the duties paid also applies. Ask your transitaire to classify the machine; we do not quote a duty figure here.
- EU-Tunisia Association Agreement: signed in 1995, it phased out Tunisian duties on industrial products of EU origin, a process completed in 2008. European-built machines therefore enter free of customs duty, though VAT is still due. When you compare a European quotation with a Taokron one, compare landed cost.
- Equipment with no local equivalent: the 2016 finance law removed import duty on raw materials and equipment not produced locally, and Government Decree 2017-419, made under the 2016 Investment Law, lists imported equipment with no locally made equivalent that can qualify for duty exemption and a reduced VAT rate. Eligibility depends on the list in force and on your project, so confirm with a Tunisian tax adviser before you order.
Radès handles most of Tunisia's container traffic, about 63% in the first half of 2026, followed by Sfax, Sousse and Bizerte. Tell us the port nearest your workshop when you request a quotation. Our importing guide covers the general paperwork.
Power supply: 220/380 V, 50 Hz
Tunisia runs at 50 Hz. STEG figures published by the investment agency FIPA in January 2025 give low voltage supply as 220/380 V with a tolerance of plus or minus 10%, and medium voltage generally at 30 kV. Equipment rated 230/400 V sits inside that band. Measure the three phase voltage at your workshop and tell us; we wire the motors, drives and control transformer to suit. Have your electrician check the connection capacity with STEG before the machines arrive. See also duct machine voltage and frequency by country.
Typical Tunisian shop set-ups and the machines that fit
Rectangular duct is most of the work in Tunisia: factory halls, hotels, offices and hospitals all run mainly on rectangular supply and return duct with TDF joints. Build the shop around that first.
Starter rectangular shop for contractors
Many Tunisian HVAC installers make their own duct in a small workshop. A practical set is a Rectangular Duct Line II SBAL-II (0.5 to 2.0 mm sheet, 1,250 or 1,550 mm width) or an Auto Duct Line SBAL-III, which decoils, levels, beads, notches and shears in one pass. Add a Pittsburgh lockformer (SBLC series) for longitudinal seams, a TDF flange forming machine for transverse joints, and a pneumatic folder for the final bends. A Duct Zipper SBHF-1.5×1500TDF closes the seam by machine under PLC control, which gives a more consistent seam than closing by hand and makes the leakage class in an EN specification easier to hold. That set covers straight duct, TDF joints and simple fittings with a small crew.
Volume rectangular shop for factories, hotels and the airport
Shops chasing offshore plant, hotel and airport packages need output and consistent quality over thousands of square metres. The Auto Duct Line SBAL-V is a U-shape line that runs from coil to finished panel for TDF, angle flange or drive cleat duct. Pair it with an auto corner making machine to stamp TDF corners and a pneumatic corner inserting machine to fit them, so corners stop being a bottleneck. A hydraulic folder handles heavier gauges up to 2 mm and long bends, and a Plasma Cutter SBPC1550 cuts elbows, transitions and offsets from nested drawings. Our TDF vs angle flange guide explains when each joint makes sense.
Round duct
Spiral duct comes second, for factory halls, car parks and exposed ceilings. The Spiral Tubeformer SBTF-1500 or SBTF-1602 forms round duct to 1,500 or 1,600 mm, and the Spiral Duct Flanging Machine SBFB-1600 turns flanges on round duct ends from 200 to 1,600 mm. For a real example, see Kavanagh Industries in Sydney, which added an SBTF-1602 in October 2026, and our guide to adding spiral duct to a rectangular shop.
Industrial extract
For machining, surface treatment and process clients, the Automatic Stitchwelder SB-ZF1500 welds the seams of heavier round duct from 0.8 to 3 mm, and the stainless duct forming machine makes small-diameter stainless round duct from 100 to 500 mm for corrosive extract.
Labour and space
Decree 67 of 2026, published in the official journal on 30 April 2026 and applied from 1 January 2026, set the non-agricultural minimum wage (SMIG) at TND 554.736 a month for a 48-hour week and TND 470.251 for a 40-hour week, with further steps in 2027 and 2028. FIPA gives the legal minimum employer social security contribution as 16.57% of gross salary. Skilled sheet metal workers and operators earn more. In Tunisia the case for automation is mostly about consistency and speed: an auto duct line replaces much of the manual marking, cutting, notching and folding, so a small crew delivers repeatable quality.
On space, the auto duct line is the longest item, with coil racks at one end and a run-out at the other. Ask us for a layout drawing based on your building before you sign a lease, and leave room for coil deliveries, finished duct storage and truck loading. Location follows the work: Greater Tunis and the zones around Ben Arous for the capital and the airport, the Sahel around Sousse and Monastir for factories and hotels, and Sfax for the south. Our factory layout guide has worked examples.
Working with Taokron from Tunisia
- Machines built since 1994 and supplied to 100+ countries, with 60+ patents, from an ISO 9001:2015 factory
- CE marked with a Declaration of Conformity
- Wired for your three phase 50 Hz supply
- Installation and commissioning quoted per engineer-day
- Replies within 12 hours by email at [email protected] or on WhatsApp at +61 435 074 994
Get a Tunisia-ready Taokron quotation →
FAQ
Which ductwork standards are used in Tunisia?
We could not find a separate Tunisian duct construction code. Tunisia's standards body INNORPI publishes Tunisian standards (NT), and it says about 90% of them are aligned with ISO, IEC and CEN standards. For sheet metal ductwork, specifications usually call up the European set: EN 1505 and EN 1506 for rectangular and circular dimensions, EN 1507 for rectangular duct strength and leakage, and EN 12237 for circular duct. Specifications are usually written in French and may cite NF EN editions and French DTU documents. Export factories often add their own group standards, and some international hotel clients specify SMACNA. Always build to the documents named in the project specification.
What voltage and frequency do duct machines need in Tunisia?
Tunisia runs at 50 Hz. STEG data published by the investment agency FIPA gives low voltage supply as 220/380 V with a tolerance of plus or minus 10%, which covers equipment rated 230/400 V. Tell us the three phase voltage measured at your workshop when you ask for a quotation so the motors, drives and control transformer are matched to your supply.
What taxes apply when importing duct machinery into Tunisia?
Import VAT (TVA) is charged at the standard 19% rate, calculated on the customs value plus any duties and other taxes. Reduced rates of 13% and 7% apply only to specific operations. Customs duty depends on the exact tariff line, usually under HS heading 8462 for metal forming machines, and on the country of origin. A customs formality fee of 3% of the duties paid also applies. Equipment with no locally made equivalent can qualify for duty exemption and reduced VAT under the investment incentive lists, so ask your transitaire and tax adviser before you budget.
Do European-built machines enter Tunisia duty-free?
Under the EU-Tunisia Association Agreement, signed in 1995, Tunisia removed customs duties on industrial products of EU origin by 2008. VAT is still due. Machines of other origin pay the Tunisian duty for their tariff line unless an exemption applies, such as the regime for equipment with no locally made equivalent. Compare landed cost, not only the ex-works price.
Where is ductwork demand in Tunisia coming from in 2026?
The main sources are export factories in industrial zones, including automotive wiring harness plants and aerospace sites such as the El Mghira industrial park south of Tunis; hotels, where refurbishment of an ageing stock matters as much as the 15 to 17 new hotels reported under construction; the Tunis-Carthage airport expansion, budgeted at about TND 3 billion; hospital projects such as the King Salman university hospital in Kairouan; and everyday commercial work in Greater Tunis, Sousse and Sfax.
Which machines should a new Tunisian duct shop start with?
A shop making rectangular duct for factories, hotels and offices usually starts with a rectangular duct line or auto duct line, a Pittsburgh lockformer, a TDF flange former, a duct zipper for seam closing and a folder. Add corner machines and a plasma table as volume grows, and a spiral tubeformer when round duct becomes regular work. Send your duct sizes, gauges and monthly output and a Taokron engineer will propose a machine set within 12 hours.
