Wednesday, 23 May 2012
DOHA: Qatar would emerge as a key player in the global fertilizer market with the inauguration of "Qafco-6" at the end of this year. The export of urea from Qatar Fertilizer Company (Qafco) will reach 5.6m tonnes next year, representing about one-eighth of the world's traded urea, HE Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy & Industry and Chairman & Managing Director of Qatar Petroleum (QP) has said.
With the launch of the Qafco-5 last year, Qatar has become the world's largest single-site producer of ammonia and urea. We expect further enhance this position after the inauguration of the Qafco-6 , Dr Al Sada said in his opening remarks at the 80th International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) annual conference here yesterday.
The Arab world in general and the GCC in particular has been playing an increasing role in the global fertilizer manufacturing and marketing. Qatar is one of the prominent GCC nitrogenous fertilizer producer and exporter to the world. With the combination of population growth and the diminishing availability of arable land, the role of nitrogenous fertilizers, in the production of food will continue to be crucial, the minister said.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has predicted that food production will need to increase by 70 percent to feed an additional 2.3bn people by 2050. The world fertiliser industry, along with others in the food production supply chain is working hard to meet this target and the GCC fertilizer producers will continue to play a very important role in it, he said.
Currently, GCC is responsible for about 16 percent of the world's total nitrogen exports, and is also positioned to cater to 18 percent of the world Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) export market. Besides these nitrogenous and phosphatic nutrients, GCC is a major contributor of sulphur, another key ingredient for the production of fertilizers.
GCC states with their abundance of sulphur, export an estimated 6.2 m tonnes per year or about 18 percent of the world total. With the expansion of oil and gas operations, availability of this product in the region is set to increase further, he said.
Another aspect that supports the mineral fertiliser industry of the GCC states is their ideal location vis-à-vis some of the largest importing nations, like India, which alone accounts for about 20 percent of the world's total nutrient trade, Dr Al Sada said.
The minister said the issue of food security is directly linked to the agriculture industry. In this context, the fertilizer industry stands as one of the most important industrial bases that serve and develop global agricultural production by enhancing the quality of production, while at the same time increasing the yield.
The ever increasing global demand for food indicates, the world cannot meet this challenge except through the adoption of modern agricultural technologies and increasing the yields of the crops by using fertilizers. The MENA region, specially the GCC countries, are expected and highly required to play a dynamic role as they have an abundance of availability of raw material for mineral fertilizer production.
"Qatar has already made great strides in this direction through huge expansion in the production facilities of Qafco, which has grown from a modest manufacturer to a giant producer and seller of nitrogenous fertilizers".
"The Global fertiliser industry has progressively developed over the past few decades and has contributed considerably to increase agricultural production worldwide. This highlights the ability of the fertiliser industry and its leaders to address the current and future global challenges.... The industry players should adopt a common vision with regard to the near and distant future, that helps develop fertilizer industry and ensures that it plays a sustainable role that is beneficial for the whole world," Dr Al Sada said.
© The Peninsula 2012
