Acron boosts fertilizer production 3.7% in H1
MOSCOW. July 18 (Interfax) - Acron increased mineral fertilizer production 3.7% in the first half of 2014 year-on-year to 2.753 million tonnes, the company said in a press release.
Output of nitrogen fertilizers rose 9.4% to 1.6 million tonnes, including increases of 4.9% to 331,000 tonnes for urea, 3.6% to 793,400 tonnes for ammonium nitrate and 24.8% to 476,300 tonnes for urea ammonium nitrate (UAN).
The large increase in UAN output was "made possible by an upgrade that increased the UAN unit's capacity to 1 million tonnes per annum in early 2014. NWPC (Oleniy Ruchey mine) also contributed to the results: apatite concentrate output in H1 2014 reached 420,000 tonnes, up 58% year-on-year," the press release says.
Ammonia production declined 0.3% to 952,100 tonnes.
Production of complex fertilizers (NPK) rose 3.1% to 1.392 million tonnes, mainly due to output increases at the Veliky Novgorod (Russia) and Hongri Acron (China) facilities.
Industrial product output increased 13.1% to 493,000 tonnes due to a 53.2% increase in potassium carbonate output and an 18.8% increase in hydrochloric acid output.
Output of key commercial products was 3.282 million tonnes, up 6.2% year-on-year.
"Today, the global mineral fertilizer market looks well-balanced and global sales are high. The price drop against 2013 was partially offset by reduced production costs for many producers, which ultimately delivered satisfactory conditions for both customers and producers. In H1 2014 we saw our strongest demand in Europe, the U.S. and the CIS, while by midyear demand was up in Latin America and India," the press release says.
"Despite the global market equilibrium, regional trade has its own imbalances. For instance, the Asian market is oversaturated with urea, principally because of increasing Chinese exports. As a result, this region has the lowest prices, with the FOB price for Chinese urea sinking as low as $240-250 per tonne. However, price dynamics in the Baltic, Black Sea and Mediterranean ports was not the same as in Asia, and prices stabilized at about $300 per tonne. This was due to reduced available supplies from Ukraine, Egypt and Algeria, where producers are constrained to lower output for various reasons," it says.
"As the core products of Acron's nitrogen business, nitrate fertilizers (ammonium nitrate and UAN) remain premium products in high demand. Prices for NPK 16-16-16 complex fertilizer have stabilized at $350-360 per tonne (FOB) and have potential for further increases as DAP/MAP prices for phosphate fertilizers go up due to stronger demand in Latin America and India."