Moroccan fertilizer firm OCP Group says it will commission the $1.5bn (N503bn) ammonia plant in Nigeria by 2024.
The $1.3 billion Nigerian plant when operational is expected to export ammonia to OCP Morocco plant in Jorf Lasfar, while the Morocco firm would supply phosphoric acid to make the fertilizer.
The company also noted that a fertiliser plant would also be commissioned in Ghana the same year.
OCP which is the world’s biggest phosphates exporter said it will build the two plants each with capacity of 1 million tonnes a year, as part of its push to drive the use of phosphates-based fertilisers in Africa, the company’s Chief Growth Officer Soufiyane El Kassi said.
The group also plans blending plants in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana and Rwanda to customise fertilizers to the requirements of different soils, he said.
So far, it supplies 28 blending units and has offered training to help 750,000 African farmers in eight countries to increase production.
In 2019, OCP’s fertiliser exports hit 9 million tonnes, including 1.8 million tonnes to Africa or 58% of total fertilisers sold on the continent.
OCP which supplies more than 90% of Nigerian fertilizer demand, signed a protocol agreement in June 2018 to build the plant with Nigeria’s Sovereign Investment Authority. The Group aims to boost fertilizer supply to Nigeria from I million tonnes a year to 3 million tonnes a year in the next 5 years.
