The Moroccan phosphate turnover increased by 72%
In the first half of the 2022 the Maroc Cherifien Office of Phosphates (OCP) recorded a 72% increase in turnover, which reached 56 billion dirhams (€ 5.6 billion) according to the company’s following press release:
“OCP achieved exceptional financial performance in the first half of 2022. The increase in product prices, combined with our constant efforts in production cost optimization and operational efficiency, resulted in an EBITDA margin of 50%, among the best in the sector. Average phosphate fertilizer prices more than doubled compared to the first half of last year, due to a combination of factors including, rising input costs, supply chain disruptions, export restrictions, and finally growing global demand,”.
Fertilizers are responsible for most of the significant growth, with a revenue up to 69% year-on-year, thus representing a record 63% share of OCP’s total revenue compared to 60% a year ago . This strong performance reflected over all higher prices which mitigated the impact of a slightly lower export volume.
Gross margin for the period reached almost 38 billion dirhams (US$3.90 billion), well above the more than 21 billion dirhams (US$2.38 billion) recorded a year earlier. The gross margin benefitted from strong prices which more than compensated the general impact of rising input costs (especially sulfur and ammonia).
This enabled the group to invest up to almost 8 billion dirhams ($809 million), compared to 4,3 billion dirhams ($482 million) over the same period in 2021.
With the aim of continuing this growth OCP has announced in a recent press release of September 26th that the group will initially acquire 50% of GlobalFeed S.L. from Fertinagro Biotech S.L., a major Spanish fertilizer producer.