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03-10-10

SABIC to raise phosphate output to 1 million tons in 2011

(MENAFN) A statement issued by the Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), the worldï¿½s largest petrochemicals maker, and partner Saudi Arabian Mining Co said that the company is going to generate about 1 million tons of phosphates at a joint venture plant in 2011, Saudi Gazette reported. Production at the facility at Ras al Zour on the Arabian Gulf coast will be launched by the end of 2010 or early 2011 and it is going to take 12 to 18 months for the plant to reach full production capacity. Due to the increasing world population that is going to reach 10 billion by 2050, Saudi Arabia is expanding fertilizer production to meet rising food demand. Demand for fertilizers will increase over the next 40 years as the world's population is going to consume more meat and eggs. Food and energy prices will be progressively more connected, with potentially high fuel expenses spurring fertilizer use as farmers seek greater efficiency. Agricultural production will require growing faster than the supply of arable land, forcing farmers to seek greater crop yields. Saudi Arabia will be able to produce about 18 percent of the worldï¿½s diammonium phosphate once the Ras al Zour plant is complete, the statement added. According to the statement, the plant will have a capacity of 2.9 million tons of granular diammonium phosphate a year, along with 450,000 tons of ammonia and 160,000 tons of phosphoric acid.

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