Morocco’s OCP poised to play greater role in global food security

Morocco’s phosphates producer OCP plans to increase its fertilizers output to 11.9 million tons this year, compared with 10.8 million tons last year, as it sees a growing demand from India, the Americas and Africa at a context of market turbulences and higher crop nutrient prices.

Russia said it would not export its fertilizers and soil nutrients including ammonia and potash, in a move that stoke the market and raised fears over a surge in food prices.

Despite the loss of Russian ammonia, OCP plans to increase its phosphates-based fertilizers by 10% this year, Reuters reported.

OCP annually imports some 1.8 million tons of ammonia, most of it sourced from Russian company Urallshem.

Nada Elmajdoub, executive vice president performance management at OCP told Reuters the firm has managed to replace volumes needed for the next few months from other suppliers around the world and that it was able to switch its production to use other raw materials with lower nitrogen levels.

“On ammonia sourcing in particular, thanks to our strong network of suppliers globally, we’ve been working on building alternative supply,” she said.

OCP aims to start importing ammonia from U.S. producers next year under a long-term supply deal and expects to start ammonia output at a plant in Nigeria in 2025, she said.