Prague - While most foreigners will hopefully associate the Czech Republic (and former Czechoslovakia) with rather positive things such as beer, famous novelists, or well-known historic sites, there are also more sinister Czech and Czechoslovak „exports" - one of them is surely Semtex, a plastic explosive that became world-infamous in the Cold War era due to its popularity among various terrorist groups.

Currently, Semtex constitutes only a little fragment of the overall production of Explosia, its inventor and manufacturer seated in Semtín, a suburb of Pardubice (Hence the product's name - SEMTín EXplosia). In the last two yeas, the traditional orientation of the company on a handful of key clients has been giving the company a hard time.

„The production of explosive materials is going through a crisis together with the construction industry. This combines with the effect of the long winter that decreased the amount of surface mining. We are waiting for the spring to begin, so we can start mining again," Explosia's Director General Josef Tichý said.

Tichý added that the mining industry is in the crisis too, with the demand for explosives decreasing by 20-30 percent.

The company was founded in 1920 in what was then Czechoslovakia and has been supplying the army, its most important client, and some mining and construction companies with its products ever since. 

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Army not interested anymore

In addition, the army shows little interest in the products it has always been traditionally purchasing from Explosia. 

Due to all these influences, the company is in loss for the second consecutive year. In 2008, the loss equaled 63 million CZK (2.5 million EUR).

„We don't have the complete results yet, but we can already say that it will be a loss again. It will be smaller than in the last year, but it will be a loss anyway," says Tichý.

Tichý believes that the company is in need of major army contracts. For example, Explosia used to be contracted to revise the ammunition reserves. But in the last year, the contract did not come, as the army is trying to save too.

One fifth of employees laid off

That's why the company had to reduce the number of its employees by approximately 20 percent. Tichý said that the company opted for a soft approach - some of the staff retired, others were given compensation.

Currently, Explosia employs 450 people. The company lived its golden era in 1980s when it was supplying all the Eastern Bloc with its products. In the 1990s, the company started to issue stocks.

Bad reputation

As a hardly detectable waterproof explosive that stays plastic between minus 40 to plus 60 degrees Celsius, Semtex was very popular among the Cold War-era terrorist and terrorism-sponsoring states. The explosive was exported excessively to North Vietnam and Libya, and it was used by Arab terrorists or the separatists in Northern Ireland. One of the most infamous attacks committed with Semtex was Lockerbie Bombing in 1988.

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Since the end of the Cold War, the production was gradually tightened, and Semtex is now manufactured with a detection taggant.