We highlight recent innovations, including fertilizers recovered from industrial residues, novel controlled-release coatings, and products that incorporate biological components designed to benefit both crop nutrition and soil heath.
Brazilian phosphate producer Galvani says that it has begun work on its major phosphate expansion in Bahia state, including a new production plant at Ceará, in partnership with Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil (INB). The company aims to reduce Brazil’s northern and northeastern regions’ reliance on imported fertilizers. The first phase includes $133 million of investment, including $76 million for new phosphate mining at Irecê, and $38 million for Luís Eduardo Magalhães factory, also in Bahia. This expansion will take capacity from 600,000 t/a to 1.2 million t/a by 2026. The expansion at Luís Eduardo Industrial Complex includes expansion of sulphuric acid capacity from 165,000 t/a to 250,000 t/a.
Desmond Long has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of BASF Shanshan Battery Materials Co., Ltd effective April 1, 2024. In his new role, Desmond will lead the business management of the company.
2024 is my tenth year as editor of Fertilizer International magazine. But, having joined CRU in January, it’s also a fresh start.
China’s drive to build new battery production capacity for electric vehicles and stationary storage is leading to a familiar problem for the Chinese economy; overcapacity.
The phosphate industry, the dominant consumer of sulphuric acid worldwide, has grown to its present size on the back of fertilizer consumption. And while this has seen considerable growth over the past decades, especially in countries like China, India and Brazil, it has generally been fairly steady and – subject to the annual vagaries of weather and the commodity cycle – relatively predictable. However, the world economy is now in the throes of a major transformation towards less carbon intensive generation and use of energy, and that is disrupting many markets, including that for phosphates.
The nickel market has been through a period of unprecedented change over the past few years due to demand for batteries for electric vehicles, with Indonesia becoming a centre for production via high pressure acid leaching.
Freeport Indonesia has inaugurated the $250 million expansion at its PT Smelting copper smelter in Gresik, East Java, in a ceremony attended by Indonesian president Joko Widodo. Smelting, a joint venture between Freeport McMoRan and Mitsubishi Materials, has increased copper concentrate processing capacity to 1.3 million t/a, up from the previous figure of 1.0 million t/a, with copper cathode production of 300,000 t/a.
Granulation technology generates a premium urea end-product in large volumes capable of withstanding lengthy storage and extreme shipping conditions. Prilling technology, meanwhile, given its typically lower investment cost, can be an attractive option for smaller-scale urea producers supplying local markets. Stamicarbon’s Dr Wilfried Dirkx, Ahmed Shams and Branislav Manic explore the technology options for urea finishing.
In a recent webinar, Chris Lawson, CRU’s Head of Fertilizers, gave the CRU view on what 2024 holds in store for the global fertilizer industry. Here are CRU’s top 10 calls for the year ahead: