Crisis in Morocco could threaten global agriculture

Any world agriculture could be at risk if problems come to disrupt activity in Morocco which is the largest exporter of phosphate fertilizer.

Phosphate is used as fertilizer in agriculture. With increasing food production, fertilizers are essential for all agriculture. The world demand should increase by 25 million additional tons by 2015.

 Morocco is the first exporter of phosphates which holds nearly 38% of the world's known reserves. If the country was entering a crisis that would disrupt its export activities for several weeks, all agriculture would be affected which could lead to a global food crisis.

 This concern about the crisis led to the sudden increase of its main competitor, Phosphate Australia which saw its shares increased by 62.5%.

 China is the first producer in the world, Morocco is the third producer and the first exporter. The use of phosphates is a state monopoly represented by the Office Moroccan Phosphates (OCP), established in 1920.

Source: Yabiladi, ocp