OCP Group to Contribute to Pan African Fertilizer Company’s Capital

Rabat – Morocco’s leading phosphate company OCP Group has obtained the government’s approval to contribute equally to the capital of the “Pan African Fertilizer Company” with the Ethiopian government.

The approval was announced in a Decree No. 2.22.451, published in the Official Bulletin on July 14.

The Decree also recalled that OCP had signed a joint development agreement with the Ethiopian government in September 2021 to implement a fertilizer project in Ethiopia’s eastern city of Dire Dawa.

The two parties reached the agreement following a visit by a high-level Ethiopian delegation to Morocco.

Ethiopian Minister of Finance Ahmed Shide led the delegation, which also included officials from Ethiopian Chemical Industry Corporation (CIC), Ethiopian Agricultural Businesses Corporation (EABC), and Ethiopian Mineral, Petroleum and Biofuel Corporation (EMPBC).

The new fertilizer plant will be implemented in Dire Dawa and will use local resources including Ethiopian gas and Moroccan phosphoric acid.

With an investment budget estimated at $2.4 billion in the first phase, the project seeks to develop a 2.5 million tonnes fertilizer production unit, combining urea, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) as well as nitrogen-phosphate, and sulphur (NPS) products.

The plant is forecasted to reach a production capacity of 3.8 million tons annually, for a total investment of up to $3.7 billion in the second phase.

The project, which will take the legal form of a joint-stock company under Ethiopian law with a board of directors, is expected to contribute significantly to Ethiopia’s growing fertilizers demand.

It is also set to secure the sales of approximately 600,000 tonnes of phosphorus acid, while developing products suitable for crops and soils in the East African country.

Ethiopia is expected to achieve self-sufficiency by 2030, achieving substantial savings on fertilizer imports, which are estimated to be $1 billion from 2022 and could potentially reach $2 billion by 2030.

In a bid to boost the agricultural sector across Africa, OCP Group will create a new company named “OCP Nutricrops” with a capital of MAD 13.8 billion ($1.3 billion), to assemble a number of its subsidiaries engaged in chemical activities.

The new company aims to accelerate the implementation of the OCP Group’s strategy in the field of soil and plant fertilization solutions.

The phosphate and fertilizer giant has also donated 15,000 tonnes of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertilizers to Rwanda to empower smallholder farmers and ensure food security in the country.