Fertilizer International articles from September 2006

Fertilizer International archives from September 2006

Biting the bullet in Brazil.(EDITORIAL)
September 1, 2006... The downturn in the Brazilian demand for fertilizers is biting hard. This is reflected in the latest financial results of Fosfertil, Brazil's largest fertilizer producer, which reported a 46% fall in net profits in the first six months this...

Prices.(MARKETS)
September 1, 2006... * Yuzhny ammonia prices revive * Urea spot prices also on upward path * Phosphates markets remain seasonally quiet * Arab Gulf sulphur market remains weak * Indian potash buyers secure unchanged prices Ammonia prices...

Keynotes.(MARKETS)
September 1, 2006... Ammonia freight rates were expected to firm further as strong global demand for LPG continued to bolster freight rates in the ammonia sector, despite slow trade in the latter. LPG/ ammonia vessels of 50,000 cbm can now secure rates of over $1...

TFI's showpiece in San Francisco: a popular venue, and a winning formula, with the added incentive of some enticing prizes for a couple of lucky winners: this is The Fertilizer Institute's flagship World Fertilizer Conference.(PREVIEW)
September 1, 2006... The Fertilizer Institute's premier meeting is the World Fertilizer Conference, which draws delegates from around the world, from as many as 60 different countries. It is held in September of each year, and for 2006, it returns to everyone's...

Bulk blending's segregation challenge: the bulk blending of multinutrient fertilizers becomes ever more sophisticated, tackling issues such as segregation and caking of ingredients. The issue of segregation is addressed here.(BLENDED FERTILIZERS)
September 1, 2006... It is a given that good blending starts with good raw materials, and the quality of the finished blended product is critically dependent on the quality of the inputs. (Introduction to Guidelines for the Production and Handling of Blended...

More volume, more value from Lange-Stegmann.(PROFILE)
September 1, 2006... For the first 75 years of its existence, Lange-Stegmann operated diligently within a 150-mile radius of its base in St. Louis, Missouri, distributing fertilizers to local dealers and farmer customers. While the company had carefully nurtured...

Still a competitive product: in recent years, bulk blending has challenged granular compound NPKs as a primary source of multinutrient fertilizers in many regions around the world. Can new technology still make granulation an economical option for NPK production?(GRANULAR NPKS)
September 1, 2006... The unique selling point of complex fertilizers is "All the nutrients in one granule." Compound NPK fertilizers enjoy a long pedigree that can be traced back to the earliest days of synthetic ammonia production in Germany in the early decades...

The compaction alternative: the French company, Sahut-Conreur SA, has developed a technology that involves granulation by compaction, which eliminates many of the shortfalls in the traditional granulation process, as well as offering enhanced product quality, improved economics and greater energy efficiency.(GRANULAR NPKS)
September 1, 2006... The compaction process is basically a dry granulation process, in which fine particles of fertilizer raw material are subjected to sufficiently high pressure to squeeze them together and bring their surfaces close enough for short-range...

A higher profile, but deficiencies prevail: the prognosis in global terms is not a good one: the micronutrients which are vital to plant and human health are being removed more quickly than they are being replenished. What can be done to reverse this tide?(MICRONUTRIENTS)
September 1, 2006... Although awareness of the importance of micronutrients for plant, animal and human health has spread considerably around the world in the past few years, deficiencies remain all too prevalent. There are eight principal micronutrients that are...

Moving up into a bigger league.(MICRONUTRIENTS)
September 1, 2006... As has been well documented some growers in the United States had an unfortunate introduction to micronutrients when they applied sewage sludge. This caused an excessive accumulation of Cu and led to phytotoxic levels. The story of what had...

Excellence in safety means excellence in business: the international fertilizer industry has worked hard to set up a series of Best Management Practices, but there can be no room for complacency, and at the heart of safe working practices must be a fundamental culture of safety throughout the organisation.(PLANT SAFETY)
September 1, 2006... In the past two decades, the environmental, health and safety sector has undergone a fundamental transformation. It has been said that the most significant change has been one of ideas and culture, whereby previous haphazard attempts to...

Priorities at PotashCorp: John R. Hunt--Vice President, Safety, Health & Environment PotashCorp--tells FI how safety is paramount. Above all, taking nothing for granted, PotashCorp keeps raising the bar.(PLANT SAFETY)(Interview)
September 1, 2006... PotashCorp enjoyed a very good year in 2004 for safety, with record lows for recordable injury and lost-time injury rates. How did 2005 compare? After reaching record lows in 2004, PotashCorp's recordable and lost-time injury rates...

Packing a punch at Clearwater: the Central Florida Section of AIChE met in June for the 30th year in Clearwater to examine current issues in sulphuric and phosphoric acid operations and technology. As ever, it was an excellent forum.(MEETING REPORT)
September 1, 2006... Two half-day sessions on Florida's Sunshine Coast sound an attractive proposition and an undemanding schedule, but the annual AIChE Central Florida meeting at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort at Clearwater Beach offers participants one of the...

Getting more than 100% from the plant: there are many opportunities to increase the efficiencies of processing potash ores and brines. The latest developments are described.(POTASH)
September 1, 2006... According to IFA, global potash capacity is forecast to increase from 64.3 million tonnes of KCl equivalent in 2005 to 71.3 million tonnes in 2010. This additional 7.0 million t/a of new capacity will come primarily from expansions among the...

Calendar.(Calendar)
September 1, 2006... SEPTEMBER 4-7 Agricultural Constraints within the Soil-Plant Atmosphere Continuum, 5th International Symposium on the Agricultural Environment, AgroEnviron 2006, University of Ghent, GHENT, Belgium....

British sulphur conference and exhibition diary.(Calendar)
September 1, 2006... OCTOBER 22-25 Sulphur 2006, Hotel Intercontinental, VIENNA, Austria. For further information, please contact: Tania Biggs, Conference Administration Manager, British Sulphur Events, 31 Mount Pleasant, London, WC1X 0AD, UK. Tel:...

PotashCorp promotions.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PotashCorp) has promoted two senior executives in its transportation and marketing functions. Bob Felgenhauer is the new Vice President, Transport and Distribution, with responsibility for all product...

Yara strengthens its Brazilian foothold.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... Yara International ASA has acquired a controlling interest in the Brazilian fertilizer distribution and marketing company, Fertibras, thus making Yara the second largest player in Brazil. The companypaid $126 million for a 48.09 % stake in...

New Mosaic President and CEO.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... Jim Prokopanko has been named as Executive Vice President and CEO of Mosaic Co., with effect from 31 July. He latterly served as a Corporate Vice President of Cargill Inc. and became a Director of Mosaic on its inception in October 2004. In...

PPI announces 2006 award winners ...(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... Each year, the Potash & Phosphate Institute (PPI) makes the Robert E. Wagner Award to two agronomic scientists who have made outstanding contributions to advanced crop yields though research on maximum economic yields (MEY). The Award honours...

... And fellowships.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... PPI has also announced four winners of the J. Fielding Reed PPI Fellowship Award. The Awards are made in honour of the late Dr. J. Fielding Reed, who served as PPI President between 1964 and 1975 and who was well known for inspiring advanced...

Spur Ventures personnel changes.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... Ian He announced his retirement from the post of President of Spur Ventures Inc. at the company's annual general meeting. He is succeeded by Dr. Robert Rennie, who heads the fertilizer company both as CEO and President. David Cohen has also...

New esco marketing head.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... Erich Krug has been appointed the new Managing Director for Marketing and Sales at the salt producer esco--European Salt Co., which is subsidiary of the K+S Group. He succeeds Karl-Georg Mielke, who has taken up a new appointment as Chairman...

Tessenderlo changes.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... Tessenderlo Group has announced changes to the structure of its Chemicals business group. These took effect on 1 July, when Patrick Losson became Director, Business Unit Inorganics for Europe. Reporting to him are Paolo Cerato, Sales Manager...

3rd SOPIB Award winners.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... The Sulphate of Potash Information Board (SOPlB) has announced that two scientists will share this year's SOPIB International Award, the third of its kind. It is presented each year in recognition of research that has led to a significant...

New SABIC sales manager.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... Fehad Al Fawaz, formerly SABIC's International Sales Manager for urea, has taken a new assignment as Country Manager for SABIC in Dan, with effect from 1 July. He is succeeded in his previous post by Ayed Al Mutari.

Norman Chien retires from IFDC.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... On reaching the age of 65 and after a 31-year career with International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), Dr. Norman Chien will retire in September 2006 as Principal Scientist--Soil Chemistry in the IFDC Research and Market Development...

Jeremy's fine innings.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... Jeremy Smith retired from his post as MC Company Secretary at the end of June 2006 after a career in the agricultural supply chain that spanned 35 years. He joined AIC (Agricultural Industries Confederation) on its formation in 2003, having...

Roberto Nickhorn.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... It is with the deepest regret that we report the death of Roberto Nickhorn on 26 July 2006, after a long illness. He worked for 30 years on behalf of BCT Chemtrade, representing the company's North American interests in marketing sulphuric...

Japanese traders merge.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... Japan's Nissan Chemical Industries and Mitsui Chemicals are reported to have reached agreement to integrate their respective fertilizer operations, Nissan Agri and Mitsui Toatsu Fertilizers. The merger is due to be completed in April 2007,...

FIS Ltd. launches derivatives service.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... FIS Ltd. has entered the fertilizer market to provide a new trading facility to hedge and trade fertilizer derivative cash settled swaps. FIS Ltd. specialises in the development of investment and financial trading systems, including options...

Uralkali board elections.(PEOPLE)
September 1, 2006... At the recent Uralkali annual general meeting, Dimtry Rybolovlev was re-elected as Chairman of the Board, while Ilya Yuzhanov was appointed as a new member of the Board. Ilya Yuzhanov has served in different capacities for various executive...