It’s not often that people ask me about fertilizers, but on the rare occasion they do, sadly it’s often about an explosion involving ammonium nitrate (AN). The devastating explosion in Beirut on 4 August was a tragedy, and colleagues at Lloyds List, an Informa sister company of New Ag International, have done an excellent job in providing more detail (link at the bottom).
Lloyds List reveals the full story of the Moldovan-flag bulk carrier, the Rhosus, which in 2013 arrived in Lebanon carrying 2,750 tonnes of AN. The vessel is thought to have diverted to Beirut after developing technical problems while en route from Batumi in Georgia to Beira in Mozambique. After unloading the cargo, there was “crew abandonment” – that’s an official term when the ship owners abandon the crew. The cargo then remained in a warehouse, with lethal consequences.
No doubt there will be calls to reassess the safety and tracking for AN, but it should be remembered strict regulations for shipping and storage are already in place and that nearly nine million tonnes of AN are shipped around the world each year. The end use is split between agriculture and technical end-use, which is mainly the mixing with fuel oil to create ANFO, an explosive used in mining.
As New Ag International readers will know, there are other nitrate products also used in explosives, such as potassium nitrate (PN), calcium nitrate (CN) and sodium nitrate – all would fall under the broad term of specialty fertilizers.
PN and CN are key ingredients in water-soluble products and, by coincidence, these are the subject of a focus in this issue. I look at the latest trade statistics on these two workhorses of the water-soluble market. My main aim is to highlight some of the difficulties when looking at trade statistics. A large percentage of production is exported, so it is important to be aware of trade and changes in trade flows, since this will reveal regions of growing consumption. With CN there is another end-use which is topical – one of its technical uses is to make latex rubber gloves. Given Covid-19, this could be one application that sees an increase in demand, although the increased volumes of CN would be small.
Staying with water-solubles, we also have a feature from our correspondent in Brazil – Leonardo Gottems – on the WSF market in Peru.
Regarding sulphate of potash (SOP), we have detail on the off-take agreement between Tessenderlo Kerley International and Kemira. Tessenderlo Kerley will off-take and market the premium water-soluble SOP produced by Kemira at its plant in Helsingborg, Sweden. In addition, Tessenderlo Kerley International will also have access to a part of Kemira’s standard powder grade SOP production. This agreement will strengthen Tessenderlo Kerley International’s position in the premium water-soluble segment and become operational in 2021, Tessenderlo Kerley International told New Ag International.
Kemira will be familiar to some readers. Kemira GrowHow Oyj sold its interest in potassium nitrate producer Kemira Arab Potash Company (Kemapco) in Jordan to Arab Potash Company in 2007. Kemira GrowHow Oyj also had interest in biological products. In 2007 it sold its entire shareholding in Verdera Oy to the Canadian Lallemand Group. Verdera Oy produces biological plant protection products for forestry, horticulture and amenity needs.
On the technology side, many people have been learning how to work remotely in the last six months. In June 2020, there was the online award ceremony for the second edition of the Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge – this is the equivalent of remote growing. The task was to grow tomatoes over a six-month period in a greenhouse at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Netherlands. Participating teams were not allowed anywhere near the greenhouse and had to determine what tasks needed to be done – watering, feeding, harvesting – all remotely, using a standard set of sensors. One team was based in South Korea!
Also relating to data, we have Chris Paterson, North America Lead for Xarvio (a division of BASF), who explores the question why adoption rates for using big data in agriculture are now increasing: “My impression is the effort has been reduced or even eliminated, and a wide range of higher value outputs are appearing,” said Paterson.
This up-take probably also has a lot to do with retailers and their tie-ups with data companies. We hear from Mike Frank, EVP & CEO of Retail, Nutrien, on how Nutrien is incorporating digital acquisitions into its product offering.
Elsewhere, our Editor Janet Kanters looks into a lesser researched area – the fertigation of field crops – and reveals some of the practical difficulties in conducting field trials.
Our country profile is on India – contributing writer Lindi Botha provides a detailed picture of the biologicals sector in a country with a rich and varied agriculture.
Our featured nutrient is nickel, curtesy of contributing editor Dr. Oded Achilea. And finally, in biostimulants, we hear from Manel Cervera, Managing Partner, DunhamTrimmer, on the different business models companies can pursue.
Plus, we have news from around the world, such as STK’s launch of its hybrid fungicide REGEV in the U.S., and news of greenhouse expansion programme in Russia.
Enjoy.
New Ag International SEP/OCT 2020
Lloyds List link
