Morocco focuses phosphate exports on Laayoune

Morocco continues to place the highest value on the so-called southern provinces around Western Sahara. In this sense, Laayoune is the big bet for the export of Moroccan phosphates.

Work on the phosphate export port of Phosboucraa continues apace, in the enclave situated to the south-west of the city of Laayoune, the largest desert metropolis in the south of the Moroccan kingdom.

Phosboucraa is developing the Boucraa mine around Laayoune, whose reserves represent only 2% of the national reserve and has an annual production capacity of up to 3 million tonnes, as reported by the media outlet Rue 20.

Phosboucraa's industrial capacities are being restructured through a major investment covering the period 2011-2026. The investment of some 18 billion Moroccan dirhams (1.6 billion euros) will add even more value to the mined phosphate, ensuring that products meet the highest standards at every step of the chain. As part of the programme, a fertiliser complex capable of manufacturing 1 million tonnes of fertiliser per year is being built.

Now, the major phosphate export port project in Laayoune is part of the development initiative for the southern regions implemented on the instructions of King Mohammed VI, which aims to create more wealth locally. In this case, the aim is to give more value to the phosphate resources in the area by improving the competitive advantage of the Kingdom of Morocco.

This new infrastructure will help raise the region's competitiveness, especially through the development of the industrial fabric of small and medium-sized enterprises and new professions related to phosphate-to-fertiliser activities.

The value of the projects related to Phosboucraa and promoted by the Moroccan kingdom totals 20 billion dirhams (1.85 billion euros), all invested in the southern regions, including a huge industrial programme valued at approximately 17 billion dirhams (1.56 billion euros), divided between the phosphate extraction and processing areas, a platform for fertiliser production and the construction of the new port for export and import.

Precisely 20 kilometres southwest of the city of Laayoune is a huge Phosboucraa industrial platform, covering an area of 36 hectares, for processing the phosphate extracted from the Boucraa mine, which is located about 100 kilometres from Laayoune, and which is transported via a 100-kilometre-long phosphate conveyor belt, the longest in the world.

Morocco is one of the most important countries in the world in terms of phosphate production and supply, and is therefore a key player in the manufacture of fertilisers. Phosphate is the natural source of phosphorus, an element that provides a quarter of all the nutrients plants need for growth and development. Phosphorus is used in many products and is an essential ingredient in all fertilisers. This is a measure of the importance of the sector.

In this way, Morocco's commitment to its so-called southern provinces continues in order to develop the region to the maximum in all areas, economic, social, political, administrative and so on. 

This is precisely the Moroccan kingdom's objective for Western Sahara, a territory for which it proposes a formula of broad autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty, respecting UN resolutions in order to finally settle the Saharawi dispute. 

The Moroccan proposal has received much support on the international scene and seeks to grant a large measure of autonomy to the local Sahrawi authorities with the challenge of developing the area economically and socially to the maximum. Meanwhile, the Moroccan state would reserve for itself the management of foreign and defence policy, according to the plan.