Rabat – Morocco’s phosphate exports started 2024 on a positive note, with sales rising by 17% in January, reaching over MAD 6.2 billion ($615 million).
According to a monthly update from Morocco’s Office d’Echange (OE), the increase in phosphate exports was mainly due to the rise in sales of natural and chemical fertilizers and phosphoric acid.
At the end of January 2024, exports of natural and chemical fertilizers reached MAD 4.3 billion ($420 million), up 20% year-on-year. Exports of phosphoric acid, meanwhile, rose to MAD 1.1 billion ($109 million), marking a 26% increase.
Phosphate exports are bouncing back after a tough year of sliding demand. At the end of 2023, phosphate exports dropped by 34%.
The drop in the value of exports comes at a time when fertilizer prices were stabilizing on the global market as concerns over supply waned.
The drop in fertilizer prices comes “in a context of cyclical decline compared to the record levels seen in 2022, as well as the weakness in demand and volumes this year,” the stock market index S&P added.
Despite the drop in phosphate exports, Morocco’s fertilizers giant, OCP Group remained resilient, with annual profits reaching over MAD 30.24 billion ($2.9 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2023, up 21% compared to the same period a year earlier.
Lower prices have especially affected OCP’s international sales after an exceptional year in 2022 marked by record phosphate product prices.
The company’s turnover stood at MAD 91.27 billion ($9 billion), down 20% year-on-year.
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