Rabat – Morocco’s Directorate of Financial Studies and Forecasts announced that transactions related to OCP’s phosphate exports increased by 23.8% in the first half of 2021.
According to the statistics shared by the Directorate, transactions from OCP’s phosphate exports reached MAD 31 billion ($3.44 billion) between January and June of this year.
This development includes a 28.5 % increase in sales of phosphate derivatives destined for , up from a 3.4 % decline in phosphate exports in the previous year.
Morocco has 70% of the world’s phosphate reserves, and OCP is responsible for mining, processing, exporting, and maximizing the country’s phosphate value.
“We extract and use it in responsible and sustainable ways,” OCP said on its website.
The recent forecast from the directorate suggested that the cumulative production of phosphates in Morocco maintained its positive trend at the end of June.
This year’s numbers represent an increase of 2% in the national production of phosphate, as opposed to a 4.7% increase a year earlier, the directorate noted.
With the current figures, projections are that Morocco’s extractive sector will see a decline in activity in the second quarter of this year. Specifically, phosphate production will drop by 1.8% in the second quarter of 2021.
Last year, OCP announced it had maintained its position as the world’s leading exporter of phosphates despite a decreasing market share – from 38% to 34% – between January and September 2019.
In the meantime, recent data suggest that OCP is taking advantage of the increase in demand in America and Europe to drive up its export volumes. The company has notably increased its market share in the two continents, from 32% and 29% respectively between January and September 2018 to 35% and 33% over the same period in 2019.
The group also maintains its position as the leading fertilizer exporter to Africa, with a market share of nearly 58% at the end of 2019 despite a drop in its African exports.
