Fertiliser manufacturers on the rack after coup d'etat

摘要

Mali, which has until now been a key part of the African phosphate marketing strategies of Morocco's OCP group, Russian group Phosagro and Saudi Arabia's Maaden group among others, is slipping down the rankings. In 2019, the volume of state-subsidised fertilisers stood at more than 446,000 tonnes, according to the West African Fertiliser Observatory. Yet in 2021, the volume of fertilisers ordered by the public sector is set to fall sharply. These fertilisers are mainly used for cotton and rice production. In the cotton sector, however, the analysts consulted by the leading producers are forecasting that the area of land under cultivation might fall from 80,000 hectares in 2020 to 15,000 hectares next year. State-owned Compagnie Malienne pour le Développement des Textiles, which is the main organiser of the sector and Mali's leading buyer of fertilisers, could take as little as 10,000 tonnes next year. Meanwhile, tender calls for rice from regional agricultural departments and offices are understood to have been suspended because of fears that the government will not pay its share. Without state orders, Malian companies like Toguna Agro Industries and Doucouré Partenaire Agro Industries will not buy much of the raw materials sold by the OCP, PhosAgro and Maaden, which they then mix and turn into NPK in their production plants.