2023-06-10 13:32:00
(Ecofin Agency) – The Togolese phosphate industry has seen substantial growth in 2022 with rising production and sales. This boom, spurred by soaring global prices for raw phosphate and the country’s ambition to strengthen its local value chain, coincides with major initiatives to boost agriculture.
According to statistics from the Central Bank of West African States, the Togolese phosphate industry experienced significant growth in 2022. Production increased by 5.9% to 1,541,772 tonnes, while sales increased by 14%, from 1,386,811 t to 1,583,180 t.
An increase supported by an exceptional 116% increase in world prices for raw phosphate, an extension of an upward trend observed since the end of 2020, and the recent rise in the price of the dollar. The price per kilo has indeed gone from 48.9 FCFA in the first quarter of 2021 to 197 FCFA at the end of the year, i.e. an average of 300 USD per ton on average throughout the past year.
This price increase is attributable to the increased costs of inputs such as ammonia and sulphur, as well as energy and transport of agricultural crops, due to the war in Ukraine and the global economic recovery following the Covid pandemic. Togo had not experienced such a high volume of sales since 1999, and might record a record in terms of sales value.
This dynamism is also the result of the country’s efforts to relaunch its extractive industry, phosphate being one of its strategic minerals. As one of the 15 largest producers in the world, it aims to strengthen the local value chain by processing it on site.
With this in mind, a set of agreements was signed at the end of May 2023 with the Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP), the Moroccan giant of phosphate fertilizers, for the establishment of a local fertilizer factory. The project had initially entrusted in 2019 to the Nigerian Dangote Industries, without materializing. The Singaporean input company NutriSource Pte Ltd should also soon start production at its new NPK fertilizer plant, with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes per year, on the Adétikopé industrial platform (PIA).
In addition, the Togolese government has concluded an important agreement on mechanization with the Bonkoungou group. On May 5, 2023 in Lomé, Bonkoungou Distribution (BKG) and Bank of Africa Togo signed a partnership agreement to enable farmers to obtain the latest generation agricultural equipment at a lower cost from BKG, via the BOA-leasing solution.
These developments can be seen as a turning point for Togolese agriculture, which is at the center of government projects, and which might benefit from the performance of the Société Nouvelle des Phosphates du Togo.
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