In March of this year 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with eight departments, issued a notice on the implementation plan for promoting the efficient and high-value utilization of phosphate resources. In recent years, the price of phosphate ore has gradually increased, and the growth rate has tripled in just three years from 2020 to 2022. 

Reasons for the increase are as follows:

1. Phosphate ore is an important chemical mineral raw material with a wide range of uses and it is mainly used in agriculture, electronic components, medicine, food, new energy vehicle ceramics, and industry. The proportion of phosphate ore used in phosphate fertilizer takes approximately 71%.

2. Phosphorus is one of the three essential nutrients for plant survival and there is no substitution. The world is currently experiencing a period of rapid climate change, leading to rare natural disasters in many countries. Some of these disasters can cause significant damage to land, such as floods caused by short-term heavy rainfall. The smooth production of fertilizers is extremely of significance.

3. With the development of new energy, lithium iron phosphate batteries production consumes phosphorus as raw material and a large amount of phosphate rock. As of the end of 2022, lithium iron phosphate batteries have a market share of 55.6%, far exceeding ternary lithium batteries. Besides phosphate ore has been utilized in other forms such as pesticides, incendiary bombs, laser launchers, and so on.

In summary, phosphate ore is an important non renewable strategic resource. The total reserves of phosphate ore in the world are 72 billion tons, of which Morocco has a total reserve of 50 billion tons, accounting for 70%. China's mineral reserves are 3.755 billion tons, ranking second in the world.