Moroccans are concerned about the EU's intention to lower the authorised limit of cadmium in phosphate fertilisers. The country is a phosphate exporter and its press has been virtually unanimous this week in reporting Morocco's fear about new legislation being put together by the European Commission regulating the import of phosphates and fertilisers. Morocco's phosphate office (OCP) does 32% of its sales in Europe, according to the Moroccan press.
COPA-COGECA, the group defending European agricultural interests, is quoted as being in support. In an interview conducted by Morocco's weekly publication L’Économiste, the main adviser on agricultural raw materials and fertilisers within COPA-COGECA, Dominiqe Dejonckheere, states that the Commission's proposal "risks jeopardising the EU's supply, because world resources of cadmium-poor phosphate rocks are limited". The proposal "is not justified by a scientific assessment and there is a risk that prices of phosphate fertilisers could increase, which would be harmful for European farmers", he said.
In addition, Dejonckheere says that "there is still no profitable technology on the industrial level enabling phosphate rocks to be treated so their cadmium content can be reduced". In his view, "a transitory period of at least 15 years should be planned, which would enable the development of 'decadmiation' procedures that are profitable on an industrial scale, as well as recycling procedures for phosphorus from organic matter". (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)