Morocco became China’s largest ammonia export destination in May, absorbing more than a quarter of Chinese shipments during a record month for the commodity as disruptions reshaped global fertilizer supply routes.
Chinese customs data show Morocco received 51,050 tonnes of ammonia from China in May, or 27.6% of the 185,024 tonnes Beijing exported that month. Australia followed with 34,345 tonnes, South Africa with 24,997 tonnes and India with 24,683 tonnes. China’s total ammonia exports jumped 163.4% from April to their highest monthly level on record.
The shift matters because ammonia is a critical input for Morocco’s phosphate fertilizer industry. OCP uses imported ammonia to manufacture products including diammonium phosphate and monoammonium phosphate, leaving the group exposed to international supply disruptions despite Morocco’s vast phosphate reserves.
World Bank trade data show Morocco imported $1.77 billion of anhydrous ammonia in 2024, mainly from Saudi Arabia, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States. OCP itself describes the group as one of the world’s largest ammonia importers.
China’s May export surge came as Middle East supply disruptions tightened fertilizer markets. Chinese industry reporting linked the increase partly to disruption around the Strait of Hormuz and reduced output from European gas-based ammonia plants. China’s sulfur imports also fell 58% during the first half of 2026, complicating domestic phosphate fertilizer production.
The Chinese supply is therefore better read as a short-term diversification of Morocco’s import sources than evidence of permanent dependence on China.
OCP is simultaneously trying to reduce that dependence altogether. Its $13 billion green investment program targets one million tonnes of domestic green ammonia production annually by 2027 and three million tonnes by 2032.
Chinese companies are also moving into Morocco’s emerging hydrogen supply chain. Guofu Hydrogen said in May it planned to invest about $30 million in a first-phase 1 GW electrolyzer manufacturing facility in Morocco.
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