US Blocks Moroccan Fertilizer Giant OCP from North American Market Amid Trade Dispute

The United States, the country where Mostafa Terrab was trained, is not doing him any favors. Since July 2020, the Moroccan group, one of the 5 major global producers with American Mosaic, the Russian PhosAgro and the two Chinese GPCG & YTH, has stopped its exports to the North American market. A decision taken in response to a procedure for unfair competition filed with the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission by its local rival, Mosaic. The latter accuses OCP of being subsidized and is demanding the imposition of countervailing duties on Moroccan products, reports Jeune Afrique.

This situation, a first in the century-old history of OCP, and an exceptional event in the world of phosphate, proves the harshness of the competition in the fertilizer market. An economic clash, interspersed with political considerations, the end of which will take place in March 2021.

It’s a bad start for OCP (4.9 billion euros in revenue in 2019), taken by surprise by the procedure, like most of the industry. Thus, the opening of the file at the end of June 2020, made public by Mosaic and taken up in the media, has put the Moroccan group and the Russians PhosAgro and EuroChem on the defensive.