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Morocco: ‘I refuse to be drawn into territorial disputes,’ says OCP CEO Mostafa Terrab

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This article is part of the dossier:

Africa’s growing Agribusiness

SPONSORED BY MSC

By Julien Clémençot, Estelle Maussion

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Posted on June 7, 2021 07:31

Firefox_Screenshot_2021-06-04T11-27-54.872Z Mustapha TERRAB at the TEAL Technology Services Launch Ceremony, Rabat, Morocco, 2017© HOC © JV OCP IBM
Mustapha TERRAB at the TEAL Technology Services Launch Ceremony, Rabat, Morocco, 2017© HOC © JV OCP IBM

In this second part of our interview with Mostafa Terrab, the CEO of the Moroccan fertiliser giant OCP looks back at 2020, from the upheavals caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to the complaint filed against his group by the US company Mosaic.

65-year-old Mostafa Terrab is internationally recognised. He was endorsed by Hassan II in the early 1990s when he joined the royal cabinet. Terrab remains a great state representative and is passionate about contributing to his country’s position on the world stage.

The Moroccan fertiliser giant OCP, which has been under his leadership since 2006, has been totally transformed ($6.1bn in turnover in 2020). It is now diversifying its activities, modernising its infrastructure and governance and investing in research and development.

In this second part of our interview with the Terrab, the CEO looks back to 2020, a year that was marked by his group’s expansion to the Indian and South American markets and renewed tension in the Sahara with the Polisario.

How is OCP doing after a year marked by an unprecedented pandemic, the end of which is not yet in sight? Your turnover, which was up by 4% in 2020, seems to indicate that your group has managed to cope with this period of uncertainty.

Mostafa Terrab: Indeed, the world is facing an unprecedented pandemic within a global context that is marked by openness and the almost unfettered movement of people and goods. At a time when national authorities have declared a health emergency and taken preventive measures to deal with the effects of the pandemic, the group has organised itself to ensure resilience of our operations.

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