For the second year in a row, the kingdom recorded record revenues thanks to phosphate exports, benefiting from the soaring prices of this vital mineral for food security in Africa since the disruptions linked to the war in Ukraine, a country invaded by Russia.

“It is a strategic mineral because it is crucial for global food security,” Abderrahim Handouf, a specialist in agricultural policies, told AFP. In the face of population growth, fertilizers are “the most effective way to increase farm productivity”, he says.

Morocco is the world’s second largest producer of phosphates after China and holds 70% of world reserves.

Phosphate rocks have been mined since 1921 in Morocco, as well as in Western Sahara, which provides 8% of national production. Rabat controls nearly 80% of the Sahara, a former Spanish colony.

Morocco represents 31% of the world phosphate market, according to the Cherifian Phosphate Office (OCP), the public company which holds the monopoly of its exploitation.

OCP should record in 2022 a turnover of more than 130 billion dirhams (around 11.5 billion euros), up 56% over one year.

– “Geopolitical tensions” –

The prices of fertilizers, of which Russia is the world’s largest exporter, have soared due to Western sanctions against Moscow, and the rise in the price of natural gas, essential for their manufacture.

But already before the invasion of Ukraine in February, the price spike was fueled by the explosion in demand after the Covid-19 pandemic, export restrictions imposed by China, and the needs of the India, a major global importer who had exhausted its stocks, according to Mounir Halim, an expert in the sector.

OCP has quadrupled its production capacity between 2008 and 2021 to 12 million tonnes annually and is aiming for 15 million by the end of 2023.

“To supply all of its industrial tool with green energy by 2027” and achieve carbon neutrality before 2040, the group presented an investment plan of 11.5 billion euros on Saturday.

Morocco has increased its phosphate exports by 66% over one year at the end of September for a value of more than 8.5 billion euros, according to the Foreign Exchange Office.

But international production remains limited and “geopolitical tensions could impose new supply constraints in the short term”, noted the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

– “Winning joker” –

In this context, phosphate has become an instrument for Morocco in its determination to settle in its favor the interminable conflict in Western Sahara, which opposes it to the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front supported by Algeria.

Fertilizers are the “joker winner of Moroccan diplomacy” while the OCP has become its “economic arm”, analyzes the local press.

Morocco has thus recalled a shipment of 50,000 tons of fertilizer destined for Peru, according to the media, after this country restored its relations with the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic by the separatists.

“Morocco uses its economic weapons in a pragmatic way”, tempers Tajeddine El Husseini, professor of international relations, while conceding that they can have “a political impact”.

Courted by Brazil and Japan, OCP is stepping up its international presence, particularly on the African continent where it is established in 16 countries and has 12 subsidiaries.

It inaugurated a fertilizer blending plant in Nigeria and signed a contract to set up another in Ethiopia.

The public giant plans to devote 4 million tonnes of fertilizer “to support food security in Africa” ​​in 2023. And this, after having exported 500,000 tonnes of phosphates to African countries this year, either free or at preferential prices. .

“Morocco has launched economic cooperation projects for several years with several African countries, particularly those that were hostile to it on the Sahara issue,” said political commentator Naoufal Bouamri.

“It’s a way to get closer and maybe get these countries to change their position in the future.”