Tag: Fertilizer

The ownership of Fertilizer International magazine transferred from BCInsight Ltd to CRU, the global commodities experts, at the start of the year.

Brazil is a powerhouse agricultural economy, ranking as a top three global exporter of soybeans, corn and sugar. It is also the world’s number one producer and exporter of oranges and orange juice – as highlighted in our current issue (p18).

We report on fertilizer production, consumption and pricing in the US market. The country’s fertilizer industry, ranked fourth globally in terms of total production capacity, has grown and developed alongside its increasingly sophisticated domestic agricultural sector.

Citrus fruit growers are an attractive end-market for fertilizer suppliers due to the high K and N requirement of this widely-cultivated cash crop and the efficacy of fertigation and foliar spraying. We examine the nutrient needs of citrus trees and how balanced application of fertilizers helps maximise citrus fruit quality and yield.

Liquid fertilizers are prized because of their flexibility – especially the freedom to blend nutrients together to create customised products for growers. Dr Karl Wyant, Nutrien’s Director of Agronomy, offers guidance on compatibility and safety, two key concerns when blending and handling liquid fertilizers.

Bruce Bodine will become the new CEO of The Mosaic Company from the 1st January 2024. He was unanimously elected by the company’s board of directors at the end of August. His appointment followed the announcement that the current CEO Joc O’Rourke will retire next year. Mr Bodine was also elected company president in August and appointed as a member of Mosaic’s board with immediate effect. He was previously the company’s SVP -North America.

Ballestra is taking a new approach to improving nutrient use efficiency by moving methylene-urea production to the fertilizer industry. Massimo Gori and Svet Valkov of Ballestra discuss the technology and benefits of having a slow-release fertilizer that uses a product from within the fertilizer industry.

Distributed and carbon-free ammonia production with Stami Green Ammonia technology offers a highly competitive alternative to conventional grey processes, paving the way for scaling up and sustaining local communities with renewable energy sources.

While the world’s attention has been grabbed by the terrible situation in the Middle East, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict continues to drag on. Of particular concern in recent months has been the deal to allow export of grain from Odessa, which lapsed in July 2023, a year after it first began. The deal had allowed 33 million tonnes of grain to be exported, around 60% of it to the developing world. However, Russia had always insisted that continuing with the deal was contingent on (a) a resumption of Russian ammonia exports via Odessa and (b) removing SWIFT payment restrictions on the Rosselkhozbank agricultural bank, allowing easier export of fertilizer. Fertilizers remain exempt from sanctions on Russia, but the difficulty in securing payment, the closure of the ammonia pipeline to the Black Sea, and high maritime insurance rates for traversing the Black Sea have made exports much more difficult. And although Ukraine continues to export grain, now mostly via rail to ports like Ismail and Reni on the River Danube, Russia has done its best to disrupt this, striking ports and warehouses and laying mines in shipping lanes. Around 300,000 tonnes of grain has been destroyed, according to Ukraine, as well as up to three ships hit by mines and one possibly by a missile on November 8th. Furthermore, bottlenecks in rail transit and port capacity and the difficulty in getting ships to the ports mean that actual volumes of grain exported are considerably reduced, with only around 700,000 tonnes exported via the Danube Ports from August to the start of November.

CF Fertilisers UK Limited, a subsidiary of CF Industries, says that it plans to permanently close the ammonia plant at its Billingham fertilizer complex in order to secure the long-term sustainability of its business in the UK. The Company intends to continue to produce ammonium nitrate (AN) fertiliser and nitric acid at the Billingham site using imported ammonia, as it has for the last 10 months following its decision to temporarily idle the plant in August 2022.