OCP Group SA, Casablanca, and Burundi-based Eastern and Southern African Trade Development Bank (TDB) have executed nearly $400 million-worth of fertilizer trade finance transactions via blockchain technology, said the Moroccan fertilizers group in a statement late last month.
OCP said $270 million already have been completed, and the remainder will be executed in the coming months.
These transactions make the Moroccan fertilizers group the first African company to execute an intra-African trade transaction using blockchain. Through Singapore-based dltledgers’ blockchain, OCP said it delivered “several thousand tons” of phosphate fertilizers from Morocco to Ethiopia.
The intra-African transaction initiative is part of the company’s digitalization strategy and aims to reduce the trade finance gap in Africa and boost trade between African countries, particularly in the fertilizer sector, through digital inclusion, the Moroccan group said.
“dtledgers’ blockchain technology makes it possible for all parties to carry out these import-export trades digitally and in under two hours,” said OCP. “Traditional transactions typically take over three weeks to complete due to the need to move physical documents from suppliers, through the banking system, to the buyer.”
The group said this lengthy process was disrupted further by the COVID-19 pandemic, taking up to six-weeks to complete, as border and airport closures continue to create additional delays.
TDB, part of the TDB Group, has supported close to $1 billion of fertilizer imports from OCP to Ethiopia in the past three years, according to the Moroccan phosphates group.