Australian imports of phosphate rock from Western Sahara have come to an end.

This is confirmed through correspondence with the Australian company Dyno Nobel, formerly known as Incitec Pivot. In 2025, the company underwent a major restructuring and is now closing the facility that previously imported and processed phosphate rock from Western Sahara.

The trade had long been highly controversial. Morocco, as the occupying power in Western Sahara, has no legal right to export the conflict mineral from the territory it holds under occupation. Dyno used the phosphate to produce so-called superphosphates (SSP), which were then sold both domestically and internationally.

“With the sale of the Distribution business and closure of Geelong facility, Dyno Nobel will have no further connection with production or sale of SSP and consequently no supply chain for phosphate rock. We can confirm that Dyno Nobel will not purchase any phosphate rock cargos between now and when Geelong facility closes later this year”, Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer, Tatiana Rudometova explained in a mail to Western Sahara Resource Watch. 

Dyno Nobel informed on 12 May 2025 that the Geelong Single Super Phosphate (SSP) manufacturing facility would cease operating and close by the end of calendar year 2025. 

“We expect that the SSP production will cease in September 2025”, Rudometova explained to WSRW. 

This marks the end of a long chapter in Australia’s import of phosphate rock from Western Sahara, the last remaining colony in Africa.

Incitec Pivot, now Dyno Nobel, had sourced phosphate from the occupied territory for decades.

Following intense pressure from shareholders - several of whom excluded the company from their investment portfolios due to its failure to uphold human rights in the supply chain - Incitec Pivot initially halted its phosphate imports in December 2016. This suspension was confirmed both through company statements and WSRW’s daily monitoring of vessel movements to and from the occupied territory.

Despite the apparent halt in imports, many investors kept Incitec Pivot on their exclusion lists due to the company’s failure to issue clear, forward-looking statements regarding Western Sahara or to address the issue within its supply chain policies.

It seems the cautious investors were right to remain skeptical: in 2022, WSRW revealed that Incitec Pivot had received a new shipment of phosphate from Western Sahara, the first in six years. As the vessel passed through the Suez Canal, WSRW contacted the company. A vice president acknowledged the inquiry and stated that the request had been forwarded internally and that the company would "come back to you as soon as the team provide an update." No response ever followed, despite multiple reminders.

Now, the decades-long Australian involvement in the trade has come to an end, 2022 marked the final shipment.

“We’re pleased that Australia is finally out of the picture. It’s a disgrace that our agricultural industry was, for so many years, built on the suffering of the Saharawi people,” said Ron Guy, secretary of Australian Unions for Western Sahara. Guy has intervened in several of Incitec Pivot's Annual Meetings over the matter. “We now urge New Zealand, India, Mexico, and Japan to follow suit,” Guy added. 

In June, WSRW published its twelfth annual report on the phosphate trade from Western Sahara, revealing a steadily declining number of companies involved. In 2024, only four importers purchased the conflict mineral.

For decades, three private companies in Australia were involved in importing phosphate rock from Western Sahara. The other two were:

• Wesfarmers/CSBP began importing phosphate rock from Western Sahara as early as 1990. In 2009, the company announced plans to “reduce the company’s dependency on phosphate rock from Western Sahara,” citing investments in new technology that would allow the use of alternative phosphate sources. However, CSBP left the door open for continued imports, albeit on a limited basis, depending on price and the availability of alternatives. This shift came in the wake of a wave of European divestments prompted by ethical concerns over the trade in Western Sahara phosphates. At its peak, Wesfarmers sourced between 60% and 70% of its phosphate supply from the occupied territory. Since WSRW began daily vessel monitoring in October 2011, no shipments to Wesfarmers have been observed.
• Tasmania-based phosphate importer Impact Fertilisers sourced phosphate rock from Western Sahara from at least 2002 through 2012. In 2013, the company announced that it had completely halted imports from the territory. Since 2012, WSRW has not observed any further shipments to Impact.

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