Morocco's OCP to near double phosphate capacity

By Amena Bakr

MANAMA (Reuters) - Morocco's Office Cherifien de Phosphate (OCP), the world's leading phosphate exporter, plans to nearly double production in the next six years, a senior executive told Reuters on Wednesday.

OCP already controls around 45 percent of the world market for lime phosphate, and controls more than 30 percent of global phosphate exports, according to company data.

"We want to remain as the market leaders in the global phosphate business, so the only way to do that is to almost double or production from 30 million tonnes per year to 54 million," Ahmed Nabzar, executive vice president of OCP Group, said in an interview.

OCP last year announced a $12 billion expansion plan for the next seven or eight years.

The company has already begun exploring three new mines to achieve its output goals, and expanding those would cost $100 million, he said.

International investors had shown interest in the expansion scheme and OCP expected them to provide most of the project financing, he said.

OCP already operates three mines and exports around 15 million tonnes of phosphate rock to markets including Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States, said Nabzar.

The remaining phosphate is transferred to the company's chemical plant in Jorf Lasfar, where it is converted into phosphoric acid.