(Ecofin Agency) - The Moroccan Phosphates Office (OCP in French) signed on Nov 19 an agreement to build a fertilizer plant in Ethiopia for $3.7 billion. The agreement was signed with Ethiopian state-owned company Chemical Industries Corporation (CIC) during an official visit of king Mohammed VI to Addis Ababa.

The infrastructure will be built in two stages. First, a unit with a production capacity of 2.5 million tons of fertilizer per year will be built by 2022 thus allowing Ethiopia to achieve fertilizer self-sufficiency. Named Dire Data Fertilizer Complex, the plant will require an initial investment of $2.4 billion and include all the necessary infrastructures comprising logistics, access to fertilizers, storage and transport.

In the second stage, the plant's production capacity will be increased to 3.8 million tons per year by 2025, for $1.3 billion more.

Let's recall that Ethiopia currently imports around 900,000 tons of fertilizer per year.