Container costs As we turned into 2021, freights were at high levels, particularly container freight. This was impacting the cost of container shipments of water-soluble fertilizers and other agricultural inputs that are covered by New AG International (NAI). Contacts have confirmed the situation is still pressing. One even shared an example of how they are shipping water-soluble fertilizers as a part-cargo on a bulk vessel.
There does not appear to be any near relief in container freights. According to NAI’s sister publication Lloyds List, August 31: “A record 47 container ships were waiting for berths off Long Beach and Los Angeles on August 30, for example, and while the Meishan terminal at Ningbo, China, has reopened, there are still delays in getting containers through the terminal.”
Sri Lankan ban Meanwhile, at the beginning of May, the government of Sri Lanka announced it was restricting and banning the import of certain fertilizers, including bulk commodity products but also water-soluble specialties such as calcium nitrate, and agrochemicals, including insecticides and herbicides. Some products avoided the full ban, known as the Schedule 4 list, and were put on a list that required a licence for import, known as Schedule 1. At the time, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa claimed the action would help control rising health care costs that have been attributed to the overuse of chemicals in agricultural production.
However, in August, only three months later, the government made an exemption for what were described in local reports as “specialized fertilizer.”
The purpose of the instructions dated 31 July, published by the Imports and Exports Control department in the Gazette Extraordinary, were to regulate the importation of chelated mineral and micronutrients. Local press reports said businesses registered for protected agriculture in greenhouses, hydroponics, aeroponics and floriculture would be able to import these products.
When you look further into these actual fertilizers, you see the following have been moved from Schedule 4 (the banned list) to Schedule 1, which requires a licence for import:
HS code 31024000 – which refers to mixtures of ammonium nitrate with calcium carbonate. So, calcium nitrate is back on the allowed import list, although not I notice double salts and mixtures of CN and AN (310260), which was on the Schedule 4 list from May.
Also, HS codes 31031900 and 31039000, which are under ‘Other’ for phosphatic fertilizers. One reference under the 31031900-code listed the production description as “granulated single superphosphate fortified with zinc.”
There are also codes referring to NPKs now on Schedule 1. These codes begin with 3105, indicating they are an NPK or NP. There is for example the NPK containing three fertilizing elements 31052000, and 31055100 that refer to chemical fertilizers containing two fertilizing elements, nitrates and phosphates. Under the 31052000 code, a product description from the same reference was given as “acidic potassium phosphate (AKP) NPK 0-60-20 (100% water soluble fertilizer for agricultural use only).” While under 31055100 an NP fertilizer 20-20-0 was described.
Rajapaksa was quick to say the revised list was not a U-turn on the overall policy. Looking at the HS codes, it does seem to agree with local reports that the new exemptions are largely for water-soluble fertilizers used in greenhouse and/or hydroponic applications. So, although maybe not a full U-turn, the revision does seem a concession that the initial policy was maybe not properly conceived.
Jansen gets green light Moving to conventional fertilizers, there was the news in August that BHP Billiton will go ahead with the Jansen project in the potash heartland of Saskatchewan, Canada, committing to spend US$5.7 billion to bring the project on-stream.
Potash projects can linger in a state of suspended animation for years, and Jansen has been one of the more high-profile examples. It will also be huge. When it ramps up to full production it will add another 4.35 million t/y to the market.
The first ore is targeted in the 2027 calendar year, said BHP Billiton, followed by a ramp-up period of two years.
The announcement had market participants and fertilizer analysts, like myself, doing some back-of-the-envelope calculations. Will the market be over-supplied when the Jansen tonnes come to market? BHP Billiton seems confident potash demand will continue to grow sufficiently. An over-supplied market usually puts downward pressure on prices. But counter to this, I imagine now that Jansen has been given the go-ahead, some more speculative potash projects will be killed off, limiting any over-supply that might develop. Considering BHP Billiton has said it expects the mine to operate for up to 100 years, perhaps it matters less about the market conditions at the time of start-up.
And of course, when talking about potash, you always have to specify – muriate of potash or sulphate. In its statement, BHP Billiton talked of sustainability and “future facing commodities.” It has off-loaded its oil and gas business to Australia’s Woodside Petroleum. If not already, I wonder if BHP Billiton might not look at some of the SOP projects in Australia. As Sri Lanka has found out rather quickly, it’s not easy to do without water-soluble fertilizers.
In this issue… On the subject of water-soluble fertilizers, let’s move to the roll call in this packed September/October issue. New AG International contributor Treena Hein looks at an important application for WSFs in subsurface drip irrigation. In “Under is better? Subsurface drip irrigation on the rise”, Treena discusses its current use and future potential as global water availability stretches to its limits.
Nanotechnology is rapidly emerging as a next-generation tool for precision agriculture. Generating market value in other industry sectors, its use in agriculture delivers new possibilities for improved fertilizer performance, writes New AG International editor Janet Kanters in “Nanobubble-infused fertilizer a game-changer”.
Staying with technology, the front cover image is a glimpse of the future. Autonomous vehicles in agriculture could help reduce the amount of labour required on land. Adoption might be quicker than urban roads owing to fewer risks. In “Rolling Robots”, New AG International speaks with the Small Robot Company’s Ben Scott-Robinson who says to make sustainable farming work with millions of crop plants per field requires a radically different approach.
And we always like to bring you new biological products. In the Leader Profile with Brazil’s BioTrop, I spoke with one of bio-ag industry’s most enthusiastic members, its CEO Antonio Zem, to learn more about the company and its newly launched bio-product for pastures.
Ukraine is the subject of our regional report. Did you know it is one of the largest biofertilizer markets in Europe? The country has become an export powerhouse in agricultural products. I learned a lot about the domestic market from an interview with one of the country’s largest producers of biological products, BTU-Center.
And finally, something we’ve all been hoping for, the world of ‘live’ events is back. We hear from Irrigation Association CEO Deborah M. Hamlin on the 2021 Irrigation Show and what promises to be a high-energy exhibition hall. ABIM has announced that it will be back as a live event in Basel in October, and the Biostimulants World Congress in Florida is going live at the end of November.
These are just some of the highlights from this issue.
Luke Hutson, Editor in Chief
