Belgium-based Sahara Research Watch (WSRW), which advocates for the rights of the Saharawi people of the disputed Western Sahara territory controlled by Morocco, released a report on Feb. 9 targeting recent phosphate rock from the territory that it believes has been imported into Brazil.
WSRW said it tracked three vessels in 2020 constituting 100,000 mt from Western Sahara that arrived in the port of Santos from April through December and was later transported by truck to an industrial site in Cubatao.
WSRW said the industrial storage site included at least three companies: Cesari Fertilizantes (Cefertil), part of Grupo Cesari; Copebras Industria Ltda., a phosphate miner and producer and a subsidiary of Chinese group China Molybdenum (CMOC); and Mosaic Fertilizantes.
According to WSRW, Cesari and Mosaic, which does business with Cesari, have said they do not use Western Sahara rock. WSRW is still awaiting word from Copebras.
WSRW said it has observed several shipments of Western Sahara rock since July 2019, with vessels arriving in the ports of Salvador, Antonina, and Santos.