OCP Africa Fertilisers Nigeria Ltd. has reiterated the OCP SA group’s plan to establish an ammonia and DAP plant in the country. Work will begin this year, according to Vanguard News Nigeria, citing the subsidiary’s managing director, Mohamed Hettiti.
Hettiti did not comment on the production capacities, and said the location had yet to be finalized. He spoke only of a “big ammonia plant,” from which some of the output would be exported to Morocco for OCP’s use. Currently, the Moroccan group imports all its ammonia requirements.
OCP and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) last June inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development of an industrial platform in Nigeria for the production of ammonia and related products (GM June 15, 2018).
The Moroccan producer has also been studying the development of a fertilizer plant in the country as a joint venture with Nigeria’s Dangote group. The two companies signed a partnership deal in late 2016 aimed at bolstering fertilizer production and business in Nigeria, and possibly including developing a joint integrated platform (GM Dec. 9, 2016), but it is unclear if this included ammonia production. Dangote already is close to completing an ammonia and 2.8 million mt/y urea plant of its own in the Lekki industrial area of Lagos.
Regarding the planned DAP plant, Hettiti said Nigeria is currently importing DAP. With its own DAP and ammonia production facilities, however, he said only the phosphate raw materials would need to imported from Morocco, according to the report. The main markets for the Nigerian-produced DAP would be the domestic market and neighboring countries, according to Hettiti.
OCP is also scheduled to build two fertilizer blending plants in the country, according to reports, with plans to deliver these by September this year. The facilities would be located in the southwestern Ogun and the northwest Kaduna states, and once in production would help reduce Nigeria’s NPK imports, Hettiti said.
OCP SA had not responded to Green Markets for comment by press time. The Moroccan group has spoken frequently in recent years of its commitment to Nigeria’s agricultural development initiatives. It established OCP Africa Fertilisers Nigeria as a wholly-owned subsidiary in 2016 (GM Feb. 26, 2016), and has been working with Nigeria’s government on the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative to establish blending plants to increase the availability of cheaper fertilizer for Nigeria’s farmers. As part of this initiative, OCP also inked an agreement with Nigeria’s Fertilizers Producers and Suppliers Association (GM Dec. 6, 2016; May 19, 2017).