Rabat – Morocco’s mostly state-owned OCP Group maintained its position as the world’s largest exporter of raw phosphate in 2019, despite a decline in its market share from 38% to 34% between January and September 2019.
OCP’s raw phosphate exports decreased from 11 million tons in 2018 to 9.5 million tons in 2019 due to a 6% global drop in exports of raw phosphate during the first nine months of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018, a report from OCP announced.
“In this context, the OCP saw its exports to North America fall due to the closing of Nutrien,” said the report.
Nutrien, a Canadian fertilizer company, is one of OCP’s main clients in North America. However, its orders declined after it closed several production units in 2019.
OCP Group also maintained its position as the world’s largest exporter of phosphoric acid with a 49% market share.
The corporation’s phosphoric acid exports stood at 1.5 million tons at the end of the third quarter of 2019, compared to 1.37 million tons during the same period in 2018. The number represents a 2% yearly increase.
The group’s phosphoric acid exports witnessed a decline in the European market, but OCP compensated by increasing its market share in Asia.
As for fertilizers, “OCP has managed to keep its market share thanks to the flexibility of its products and regional portfolios, despite market oversupply and falling demand in Asia,” said the report.
OCP’s fertilizer exports reached 9 million tons in 2019, compared to 8.4 million tons in 2018.
The company took advantage of an increased demand for fertilizers in America and Europe, increasing market shares in the two continents from 32% to 35% and from 29% to 33% respectively.
OCP Group also confirmed its position as the largest fertilizer exporter to Africa, with nearly 58% market share at the end of 2019, despite a drop in exports to the continent.
The group exported 1.8 million tons of fertilizer to African states in 2019, recording a slight decrease from the volume exported in 2018 that amounted to 1.9 million tons.
With these results, Morocco maintains its position as a world leader in phosphate and phosphate-based products. However, it remains to be seen how the COVID-19 crisis will affect global trade in this field.
