Koch and OCP expand 50/50 phosphate JV to 2.5 million metric tons at Jorf Lasfar

Koch will acquire a 50% stake in Jorf Fertilizers Company I, which owns and operates a phosphate fertilizer production facility at Jorf Lasfar, Morocco, with capacity to produce up to 1.2 million metric tons per year of phosphate-based fertilizers. Combined with the existing Kofert venture (Jorf Fertilizers Company III, in which Koch holds a 50% interest acquired in 2022), the two joint ventures will represent a combined annual capacity of approximately 2.5 million metric tons once the transaction closes.

The agreement coincides with the Trump administration’s eight-month suspension of antidumping and countervailing duties on Moroccan phosphate fertilizer, declared on June 29 under an emergency provision citing domestic supply concerns linked to Strait of Hormuz disruptions. USDA estimates the duty suspension could reduce U.S. phosphate fertilizer prices by as much as 22%, saving American farmers roughly $1.82 billion annually. A larger, jointly managed Jorf capacity base increases the volume OCP can direct toward North American markets during and potentially beyond that window.

The Jorf Fertilizer Complex in Jorf Lasfar, Morocco, is the world’s largest integrated phosphate fertilizer production platform. OCP Group, Morocco’s state-owned phosphate company and parent of OCP Nutricrops, holds more than 70% of the world’s known phosphate reserves and commands approximately 31% of the global phosphate market. Unlike nitrogen, phosphorus cannot be synthesized — it must be mined — making Morocco’s reserves a strategically critical resource for global food production.

Mosaic, which controls the majority of U.S. phosphate production, successfully petitioned for antidumping and countervailing duties against OCP in 2021, arguing that subsidized Moroccan imports materially injured the domestic industry. Those duties were subsequently reduced to 2.11% in late 2025. The Trump administration’s emergency suspension of the remaining duties in June 2026 opened the U.S. market to OCP shipments again, and the Koch joint venture provides Koch — a major U.S. fertilizer distributor — with a direct stake in Moroccan supply that can serve American customers during the duty-free window.

The JFC I transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. Neither party disclosed a target closing date in the July 17 announcement. Koch and OCP have not disclosed the financial terms of the acquisition.