London - The Moroccan state-owned Office Chérifien de Phosphates (OCP) has several projects under way to expand output, with most analysts predicting a recovery in the global market by 2016, said Oxford Business Group (OBG).
Increased sales of value-added fertilizers may help offset the decline in raw commodity prices in the near future, said OBG.
OCP is pushing ahead with a MAD 145bn (€13.05bn) investment program to increase its production capacity and reduce costs, positioning itself well for a market recovery, it added.
The state-owned company, which owns four mining centers and two processing plants, is aiming to double its annual capacity of phosphates between 2007 and 2017 by expanding current mines and launching new ones, with a particular focus on improving downstream activity, it noted.
The OCP investments will be partly used for constructing a phosphate cleaning plant in Merah, a 235-km pipeline between Khouribga and its Jorf site, and the opening of three new mines at the Khouribga mining site, which will expand production from 18.5m tons to 38m tons by 2020.