London, 27 Jun 2025 (SPS) – The Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW), an international observatory monitoring natural resources in Western Sahara, welcomed on Thursday the reduction in 2024 of the list of clients purchasing phosphate from Western Sahara—illegally exploited by Moroccan occupiers. The group urged the UN to establish an administrative mechanism to oversee and manage the territory’s natural resources pending the self-determination of the Sahrawi people.
"WSRW has never recorded so few clients in a calendar year as in 2024: only four importing companies," the organization highlighted in its latest report.
A total of 26 ships left occupied Western Sahara carrying 1.45 million tons of phosphate rock, a slight decrease from the 1.6 million tons exported in 2023.
The report indicates that exports to Mexico and India accounted for approximately 91% of the total trade of phosphate from occupied Western Sahara. Twenty-three of the 26 ships departing the territory in 2024 were bound for these two countries.
While the exact value of current trade is difficult to determine, WSRW estimates it "could be around $319 million for 2024."
During the first year of systematic and continuous monitoring of shipments in 2012, WSRW identified 15 importers.
Today, most importers have ceased purchases due to the efforts of the Polisario Front, the sole legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people. Its legal actions in European courts have yielded significant results, including the annulment of two EU-Morocco trade agreements due to the inclusion of Western Sahara—a territory "separate" and "distinct" from Morocco under international law.
The Polisario Front is supported by around 40 international organizations, including WSRW, whose advocacy led in 2017 to the blocking of ships carrying Sahrawi phosphate in the ports of Panama and the Cape of Good Hope.
The NGO has repeatedly called on all companies involved in this trade to immediately halt all purchases and transport of phosphate from Western Sahara until the conflict is resolved.
According to WSRW, many former purchasers have stated they no longer wish to continue these imports, citing international law and human rights concerns.
Additionally, major multinational companies that previously supplied components for extraction at the Boucraa mine in occupied Western Sahara have announced their withdrawal.
"We have no agreements for maintenance or supply to the Boucraa mine in Western Sahara, and we have no plans to supply the mine in the future," Sweden’s Epiroc wrote to WSRW in 2020.
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