Fertiliser drives North Africa–Europe ties

Fertiliser drives North Africa–Europe ties

Fertiliser is becoming an increasingly strategic commodity in relations between Europe and Africa.

By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine 

Europe’s renewed African drive has seen Italy take the lead in the Mediterranean neighbourhood with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visiting several North African countries this year.

Rome’s Mattei Plan for Africa puts agriculture at the centre of cooperation with North Africa and the Horn, including Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Ethiopia, countries where Italy already has deep energy and historical ties, and where it now seeks to anchor food-security partnerships built on fertilizer and agritech.

A strategic commodity  

Fertilizer is fast becoming the strategic commodity in this story. Morocco’s OCP, already a main supplier of fertiliser to Europe, produced record volumes for export in 2024 reiterating the central role that phosphate-based products will play in Italy’s (and the EU’s) diversification drive away from volatile regions in East Europe.

North Africa’s fertilizer capacity is expanding with Algeria’s multi-billion-dollar Tebessa phosphate project moving into Front End Engineering Design (FEED).

Tebessa is managed by the Algerian-Chinese Fertilizers Company (a Sonatrach-led joint venture) and will aim to deliver 5.4 million tonnes of fertilizer annually by 2027.

Meanwhile urea production in Libya’s is recovering with the Libyan Fertilizer Company reporting sustained runs after plant upgrades. Libya produces a notable amount of urea, which is used mainly as nitrogen fertilizer to boost crop growth. Most of Libya’s urea is currently exported to Europe.

The Horn of Africa

In the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia’s partnership with Morocco’s OCP to develop a fertilizer complex at Dire Dawa is an important development to keep track of. It signals a longer-term shift from dependence on imports to regional manufacturing, with potential export spillovers once domestic needs are met.

Resilient food systems require reliable fertilizer access as much as grain imports or irrigation technology.

Mobilizing for the Mattei Plan

Italy is already mobilising industrial and tech partners under the Mattei Plan to work with North African governments on soil productivity and water-efficient yields, a model that complements energy and critical-minerals cooperation.

The rest of Europe is looking at the Noth African corridor to benefit from shorter shipping legs, diversified product mix (phosphate, nitrogen, and eventually potash substitutes), and the ability to build seasonal buffers closer to home.

These developments shows that fertilizer sourced in Africa will become increasingly important to Europe in the future.

On the ground reporting for WhyAfrica

I will be on the ground in Europe reporting for WhyAfrica towards the end of the year for discussions and interviews with role-players, studying and exploring Italy’s historic links with Libya and Ethiopia and today’s partnerships in Algeria and Tunisia, while connecting threads to the emerging fertilizer-agriculture-energy nexus that will shape EU–Africa relations in the years ahead.

Image: Farmers in Europe will need a stable fertilizer supply chain. Image credit: Bernard Hermunt from Unsplash.

Fertilizer drives North Africa–Europe ties