Toros Agri in joint venture with OCP of Morocco,
the world’s leader in phosphate trade

12/5/2011

Having aimed at a strategic partnership towards regional growth on the global fertilizer market, Toros Tarım signed a contract with OCP, Office Chérifien des Phosphates S.A., the largest Moroccan state enterprise that controls 30% of the world’s phosphate exports.
Toros Agri, a Tekfen Holding Agri-Industry Group company, has signed a contract with OCP, Office Chérifien des Phosphates S.A., the largest state enterprise of Morocco that controls 30% of the world’s phosphate exports, to found a joint venture in Turkey. According to the contract, a company named Black Sea Gübre Ticaret A.Ş. -Black Sea Fertilizer Trade Co will market phosphate-based fertilizers produced at the Toros Agri Samsun facilities to the Black Sea, Balkans and Central Asia regions. OCP and Toros will own 70% and 30% of the company, respectively.

This partnership will inject dynamism to the industry
Esin Mete, Chairwoman of the Executive Board of Toros Agri and Tekfen Agri-Industry Group CEO, stated that this partnership, coming at a time when Toros Agri celebrates its 30th anniversary, is set to inject the industry with additional dynamism.
Esin Mete said, “Our objective at Toros Agri is to grow with a strategic regional partnership in the global fertilizer market. The partnership agreement we have signed with OCP, Office Chérifien des Phosphates S.A., one of the biggest players in the sector, will give us a massive leverage in this context. We have successfully outperformed our dreams in the past three decades. We fully intend to put our signature, in the next three decades, to accomplishments we could barely begin to visualize today.”

Our partnership with Toros Agri is based on 30 years of trust
Mhamed Ibnabdeljalil, OCP Executive Vice-President for Sales, Marketing and Raw Material Procurement, remarked on 30 years of commercial cooperation with Toros Agri based on mutual trust and stated that the newly founded company would carry this cooperation much further. Mhamed Ibnabdeljalil added, “This joint venture will offer us the potential to identify and take a more active role in the development of markets in line with the OCP strategy of reinforcing its presence in these growing markets, by serving our customers from closer points.”

Toros Agri celebrates its 30th anniversary
Toros Agri, which began its activities in 1981 with the production and distribution of chemical fertilizers, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year (2011). Toros Agri’s main business lines are fertilizers and terminal operations and under fertilizers the company increased its market share to 34.6% in 2010 from 30% in 2009.

Toros Tarım’s other business segments are as follows: production, import and sales of chemical fertilizers, terminal operations, trade in grains and feed, seed and seedling production, techno-agriculture and bag production as well as energy generation, gas station and free zone operations, pilotage, tugboat and shipping agency services.

Toros Agri owns 38% of Turkey’s installed chemical fertilizer production capacity with its three plants, in Ceyhan/Adana, Mersin, and Samsun; this capacity makes the company the undisputed market leader. With a dealership network of 800 dealers, Toros Agri reached total fertilizer sales of 1,743,972 tonnes in 2010, of which 1,571,443 tonnes sold to dealers, 136,528 tonnes sold to wholesale customers, and 36,001 tonnes exported.

With farmer-friendly practices, high business standards, pioneering projects and proven commercial success, Toros Agri amber of Commerce survey of the 500 largest Turkish manufacturers. Toros Agri’s leadership in the Turkish fertilizer sector and the field of agricultural industry has thus been independently endorsed.

OCP realises 30% of the global phosphate trade
Morocco possesses three quarters of the entire world’s raw phosphate reserves, and is therefore the largest exporter of this product and second largest producer.

The largest Moroccan state enterprise, and holding 30% of the world phosphate exports, OCP, Office Chérifien des Phosphates S.A., is active in the extraction, development and marketing of phosphate-based products. The largest company in the Kingdom of Morocco with its US$ 6.9 b turnover, OCP employs 18,500 people who offer the company’s products to five continents. Phosphate-based products comprise three quarters of Moroccan exports. The country extracts around 30 million tonnes of raw phosphate per annum and OCP produces 25.66 million tonnes of rock phosphate each year. Mostly utilized by fertilizer producers, phosphate is extracted in mines around Khouribga, Benguérir, Youssifia and Boukra/El Aioun. OCP Group exports of phosphoric acid products reach 2.2 m tonnes per annum.

About Toros Agri Samsun Production Plant
Toros Agri Samsun production plant is located on the coast, about 15 km from Samsun city center, and was originally founded to meet Turkey’s compound fertilizer requirements. The plant has four main units: two producing fertilizers and the other two, phosphoric acid, the main ingredient of phosphatic fertilizers.

Acquired by Toros Agri in 2005 through privatization, the Samsun plant underwent an overhaul before resuming production in 2006. In addition to the extra production capacity, the revamping also endowed Toros Agri with the powerful advantage of a Black Sea terminal, which has become Toros’s gateway to the Black Sea.