Morocco’s OCP Group to Invest in Fertilizer Plant Construction in India
Morocco’s national phosphate company OCP will build, jointly with Indian fertilizer giant Kribhco, a plant to produce fertilizers to meet Indian farmers’ needs, the OCP announces.
The project will require an investment of around $230M evenly provided by the two companies. The plant will be located in Krishnapatnam, Andhra Pradesh State.
It will have an output capacity of 1.2 million tons of greenfield NPK fertilizer.
“OCP has always been, and remains fully committed to contribute to India’s agricultural development. We believe large scale local investments designed to respond to farmers’ specific needs is the key ingredient to successful agricultural ecosystem development,” OCP’s CEO, Mostafa Terrab said in a statement.
“Farmers of the country shall benefit with continued supply of various NPK grade products based on best quality phosphate in the world,” said Kribhco Chairman, Dr. Chandra Pal Singh.
The agreement according to officials of both companies falls in the spirit of Indian Prime Minister’s call for “Make in India” campaign highlighting trade and cooperation between the two countries.
Fertilizer is one of 25 core sectors identified as domains of investment by the Indian government.
OCP and Kribhco also hope to expand the project towards “development of logistical infrastructure in the region”.
The OCP-Kribhco venture will yield additional cooperation between the two companies. Kribhco is also envisaging investing in construction of a phosphoric acid plant in Morocco.
Expansion of trade and economic ties between the two countries has been underlined by leaders of both nations. King Mohammed VI, attending last year the India-Africa Forum in New Delhi, had called for upgrading Moroccan-Indian commercial and trade cooperation and for spurring South-South cooperation at large.
Indian Vice-Prime Minister Mohammad Hamid Ansari, on his part, called during a visit to Morocco last May, for a strategic partnership between the two countries.
