• Indorama to invest $210M in Senegal phosphate sector upgrade
• ICS to expand fertilizer, acid production by 2028
• Move supports Senegal's goal to triple fertilizer access by 2034
  

Singapore-based Indorama Group, through its local subsidiary Industries Chimiques du Sénégal (ICS), has signed a memorandum of understanding with Senegal’s Investment and Major Projects Promotion Agency (APIX) for a $210 million investment program, according to a report by the local media outlet APS. 

The investment plan, finalized during the Senegal Investment Forum held on October 7-8, will be implemented over three years, from 2025 to 2028. The 126 billion CFA franc program will finance projects aimed at strengthening Senegal’s phosphate industry, ICS management said.

The company plans to upgrade its Mbao fertilizer plant to raise annual NPK and DAP production capacity to 400,000 tons, up from the current 250,000 tons. The program also includes the construction of a Single Super Phosphate (SSP) unit with a capacity of 350,000 tons per year. In addition, ICS will expand phosphoric acid production at its Darou facilities to 660,000 tons annually and build a sulfuric acid plant with a daily production capacity of 700 tons.

 These projects represent a major expansion of ICS’s fertilizer production capacity. The increased output could allow Indorama to capture a larger share of Senegal’s fertilizer market, which is expected to grow in the coming years.

Data from the National Agency for Statistics and Demography (ANSD) show that Senegal imported an annual average of about 126,484 tons of fertilizer, valued at nearly 55.1 billion CFA francs ($97.4 million), between 2020 and 2024. The country’s fertilizer use rate remains one of the lowest in West Africa.

In 2022, Senegal’s fertilizer application rate was estimated at 8.5 kg per hectare of arable land — about three times lower than the sub-Saharan African average of 18.5 kg, and six times below the 50 kg target set by the African Union at the 2006 Abuja Fertilizer Summit.

According to the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), Senegal’s apparent fertilizer consumption averaged 164,000 tons between 2018 and 2022, with NPK accounting for 50%, urea for 30%, DAP for 7%, and potassium muriate for 3%.

In line with the 2024 Nairobi Declaration on Fertilizer and Soil Health, Senegal, along with other participating African nations, has committed to tripling national production and distribution of certified organic and inorganic fertilizers by 2034 to improve access and affordability for smallholder farmers.

Stéphanas Assocle