WSRW has traced the imports of phosphate rock to a dock just adjacent to a subsidiary of Japanese company Taiheiyo Cement Corporation.
Download the above picture here.
9 December 2024, the bulk vessel Huangyan Spirit arrived in Moji, Japan with a small cargo of phosphate rock.
Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) was present as the ship arrived at the dock. The Huangyan Spirit arrived just adjacent to the facilities of the Japanese company Onoda Chemical Industry Co, a subsidiary of Taiheiyo Cement Corporation.
The transport follows a peculiar trend: one small cargo arrived annually in 2023, 2021, 2020 and 2019. So far, it has not been clear which company has been behind the imports.
WSRW wrote to Onoda Chemical Industry on 14 February 2025 and has not obtained a response.
The information appears in the upcoming WSRW report P for Plunder 2025 which is to be published next week.
Taiheiyo Cement Corporation is a Japanese company registered on the Tokyo stock-exchange.
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