Cost of imported ammonia, crude sulfur reaches over MAD 25 billion by end of July

The cost of importing ammonia and crude sulfur has increased significantly, reaching MAD 25.7 billion by the end of July, up compared to MAD 8 billion recorded in the same period last year, according to the latest data issued from the Exchange Office.

It is also expected that those imported fertilizer derivatives reach a record high by the end of 2022, added the same source.

The value of ammonia imports alone extended to 12.2 billion dirhams in the first seven months of the year, while sulfur costs about 13.5 billion dirhams.

Ammonia is considered as one of the main components of fertilizers, while sulfur is converted into sulfuric acid to react with phosphates to obtain phosphoric acid, the main element in phosphate fertilizers.

Both of these important substances are used by the Cherifian office for Phosphates group (OCP), which decided to increase this year’s production capacity of fertilizers by an additional million tons compared to 10.8 million tons last year.

In 2017, the OCP Group signed a sales agreement with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company “ADNOC”, in order to supply granulated sulfur annually until 2025.

The group obtains the ammonia from many different sources, such as Russia, Trinidad and Tobago as well as from the US.
It relies on a wide network of suppliers around the world in order to ensure the needs of this material in the coming months.

The group has significant storage capabilities aiming to support African countries to obtain fertilizers by providing 180,000 tons as aid and around 370,000 tons at a reduced price.

Morocco benefited from the high price of fertilizers in the international market, as the price reached 8,823 dirhams per ton in July 2022, compared to 3,897 dirhams per ton in July 2021.

The OCP group confirmed that the turnover in the first half of the current year amounted to about MAD 56 billion, an increase of 72% year on year.

The second quarter of the current year totaled MAD 30 billion, up compared to MAD 18.1 billion recorded in the same period last year, an increase of 69%, according to the quarterly financial results.