# Phosphate in Western Sahara: The Desert Rock That Feeds the World - The Atlantic

> An Atlantic feature notes Morocco holds over 72 percent of world phosphate-rock reserves when Western Sahara is included, with China a distant second at about 6 percent. It describes the territorial dispute and human-rights concerns around Western Sahara's phosphate. It says current prices are too low to push buyers toward Western Sahara supply.

- Date: 2016-11-29 · published 2016-11-29T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: geopolitics · region Morocco · magnitude low
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/74161-phosphate-in-western-sahara-the-desert-rock-that-feeds-the-world-the-atlantic
- Commodities: [Phosphate Rock](https://feedsoft.ai/c/PHOSROCK.md), [DAP](https://feedsoft.ai/c/DAP.md)

## Why it matters

Concentrated reserves in Morocco create long-run supply risk for phosphate fertilizers, but the article's point is that low prices leave buyers little reason to shift sourcing now. The impact on near-term fertilizer prices is limited.

## Read by commodity

- DAP: neutral
- PHOSROCK: neutral

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DAP | 2022-06-13 | [Morocco counters Russia’s weaponization of the food-energy nexus - Middle East Institute](https://feedsoft.ai/events/41285-morocco-counters-russia-s-weaponization-of-the-food-energy-nexus-middle-east.md) | +3.4% | +3.6% |
| DAP | 2026-07-06 | [How Morocco’s fertiliser giant OCP was shaken by the Hormuz crisis](https://feedsoft.ai/events/18680-how-morocco-s-fertiliser-giant-ocp-was-shaken-by-the-hormuz-crisis.md) | +2.0% | +6.5% |
| DAP | 2026-10-01 | [A Wish List to Reset Fertilizer Prices](https://feedsoft.ai/events/17035-a-wish-list-to-reset-fertilizer-prices.md) | -0.3% | 0.0% |

## Sources

- theatlantic.com: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/11/the-desert-rock-that-feeds-the-world/508853/

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.