Category: Agricultural

In addition to the above deal with Morocco, the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), part of the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture, has signed a contract to import both triple superphosphate (TSP) and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilisers from Malaysia. The agreement was signed on 17 July 2025 in Kuala Lumpur by Mohammed Ruhul Amin Khan, chairman of BADC, and representatives of Selcra Niaga. Under the contract, BADC will import 280,000 tonnes of TSP and 280,000 tonnes of DAP from Malaysia. According to BADC officials, this landmark deal is expected to play a crucial role in ensuring the timely delivery of non-urea fertilisers to farmers. The move aims to strengthen Bangladesh's efforts toward building an efficient and sustainable agricultural system.

South America has become the largest importing region for nitrogen fertilizers, with Brazil overtaking India as the world’s largest urea importer. While there have been attempts to use local gas to develop a domestic nitrogen industry, these have faced challenges on a number of fronts.

The past few years have seen a rapid increase in attempts to generate ammonia from streams of nitrate polluted wastewater, but how practical are these methods?

BASF and Yara International ASA say that they have jointly decided to discontinue their project to develop a 1.4 million t/a low-carbon ammonia production facility with carbon capture and storage in the US Gulf Coast region. The companies say that this decision reflects their “commitment to focus on initiatives with the highest potential to achieve their respective value creation goals.” Yara will continue its ammonia strategy as previously communicated, evaluating and maturing equity investment opportunities in US ammonia to determine the optimal project portfolio.

ATOME says that the European Investment Bank (EIB), the lending arm of the European Union, has approved financing in-principle of up to $135 million for the company’s flagship Villeta Project. EIB is one of ATOME’s senior debt providers for Villeta and the announcement follows the Green Climate Fund approval earlier this month. Details of the financing will be finalised in early course, following closing of the debt package with the consortium of leading international development finance institutions. Based on the progress with financing, ATOME is projecting a final investment decision by the end of September 2025.

KBR says that it has been awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the development of an ammonia and urea production plant by KAR Electrical Power Production Trading FZE (KEPPT) in Basra, Iraq. Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide FEED for a proposed 2,300 t/d ammonia production facility and 3,850 t/d urea unit. The design will be executed using KBR’s proprietary ammonia technology.

An explosion at the FrieslandCampina site in Borculo in July 2025 this year was reportedly caused by an error in the discharge of hydrochloric acid. The explosion released a mix of chlorine gas and nitrogen oxides. A truck driver reported to the wrong unloading point at the dairy company in Gelderland on 4th. Both the driver and a factory employee failed to properly check the cargo’s paperwork, resulting in the hydrochloric acid being unloaded into a nitric acid tank. Furthermore, an incorrect coupling was used during the unloading process, the company reported after its own investigation. An orange cloud containing chlorine gas and nitrogen dioxide was released and spread throughout the surrounding area. Around 21:00, the site was evacuated and the fire department was alerted. At 22:13, the tank exploded. The tank lid was later found in a meadow near the factory.

Saudi power group ACWA Power has awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract to a consortium of Spanish engineering firm Tecnicas Reunidas and Sinopec Guangzhou Engineering for the development of a large green hydrogen and ammonia project in Yanbu. The project would include 4 GW of electrolysis capacity, enabling the production of 400,000 t/a of green hydrogen, which will then be converted into green ammonia for export. The plant’s scope also includes water desalination infrastructure and an export terminal to support global distribution, though renewable generation assets are excluded from the current design phase.

Yara has applied for a new environmental permit in order to be able to import 275,000 t/a of ammonia by rail to its site at Tertre in the Saint-Ghislain municipality. The permit will cover ammonia to continue to operate downstream nitric acid and ammonium nitrate production at Tertre following the closure of the site’s 400,000 t/a ammonia plant. A public inquiry into the permit is expected to be completed in early September 2025. Yara says that train traffic to the site will increase to around 5 trains per week if the permit is granted.

Aliko Dangote, self styled “Africa’s richest man”, has signed a $2.5 billion partnership with the Ethiopian Government to build one of the world’s largest single-site fertiliser plants in Gode, Somali Regional State. The was signed on August 28th by Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings, the government’s strategic investment arm. Under the agreement, Dangote Group will hold a controlling 60% equity share, with EIH taking the remaining 40%. EIH says that the facility will be “among the top five largest urea production complexes globally… with production facilities boasting a combined capacity of up to three million metric tons per annum.” The project will take gas feedstock via pipeline from the Calub and Hilala gas fields, with provisions for future expansions into ammonia-based fertilisers.