The OCP Group, Morocco’s leading exporter of phosphate rock, expects a planned US$1.3 billion ammonia plant in Nigeria to start production in late 2023, according to a senior company official. As a part of OCP’s strategy to step up investment in phosphates-based fertilizers in Africa, the plant will be built in southeast Nigeria where gas suppliers have been identified, Mohammed Hettiti, head of OCP Nigeria, told Reuters. The Nigeria plant that is expected to have an annual production capacity of 750,000 tons of ammonia and 1 million tons of fertilizers would export ammonia to Morocco’s plant in Jorf Lasfar, while Morocco would supply phosphoric acid to make fertilizer.
OCP’s Nigeria factory is part of its bigger strategy for Africa announced earlier this year that includes the start of a production in its chemical plant in Ethiopia by 2023/2024 along with the Moroccan giant’s plan to construct a factory in Ghana in 2020 and build another blending facility in Ivory Coast. The majority state-owned phosphate company, which already supplies more than 90% of Nigerian fertilizer demand, signed a protocol agreement to build the plant with Nigeria’s Sovereign Investment Authority in June 2018.
Head of OCP Nigeria also stressed that his company aimed to boost fertilizer supply to Nigeria, tripling it to 3 million tons from 1 million tons in the next five years. With its 12 subsidiaries in Africa, OCP reported a 17% rise in half-year net profit to US$185 million from the same period last year, citing higher prices and demand for phosphoric acid as major factors that helped offset lower prices for fertilizers and phosphate rock. Through its long-term strategy, the phosphate giant aims to contribute to the sustainable development of African agriculture as well as improve food security for continent’s growing population.
