Bangladesh seeks to produce fertilizer in Saudi Arabia amid dwindling supply

[Black_cats]

Bangladesh seeks to produce fertilizer in Saudi Arabia amid dwindling supply​

SHEHAB SUMON
16 February 2023

Hanwha Saudi Contracting Company signs a feasibility study agreement with Bangladesh for the establishment of a fertilizer plant in the Kingdom during a session at the Bangladeshi embassy in Riyadh, on Feb. 15, 2023. (Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh)

• South Asian nation signs feasibility study agreement with Hanwha Saudi Contracting Company
• Bangladesh needs 1.6 million tons of DAP a year to fuel its agriculture sector

DHAKA: Bangladesh is preparing to set up a fertilizer plant in Saudi Arabia, its trade ministry said on Thursday, as the South Asian nation seeks to meet domestic demand amid a crisis in global supply.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 exacerbated a global fertilizer shortage, boosting prices to all-time highs. The price hikes have already affected Bangladesh’s agriculture sector, threatening the country’s food security.

Talks on the establishment of a diammonium phosphate fertilizer plant in Saudi Arabia began last year, and on Wednesday a memorandum for a feasibility study was signed by the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation and Hanwha Saudi Contracting Company.
The agreement was inked in a virtual meeting organized by the Bangladeshi Ministry of Industry and the country’s embassy in Riyadh, which said in a statement that it was the first Bangladeshi government initiative to set up an industrial plant on foreign soil.

“We estimate that it may take around six months for the completion of the feasibility study. Once we receive the positive report in the feasibility study, our government will start the agreement negotiations with the Kingdom’s authorities. Usually, it takes two-three years for a factory like this to start production,” Sharif Md. Mashud, deputy secretary of the Ministry of Industries in Dhaka, told Arab News.

The plant, co-owned by the countries, will help meet demand for the fertilizer in Bangladesh, which needs 1.6 million tons of DAP a year to fuel its agriculture sector.

The production volume of the Saudi-based plant will be established after the feasibility study.

“We have chosen Saudi Arabia for the fertilizer factory since the country has a huge supply of raw materials and they also have sufficient capital to invest. We are yet to fix the production capacity of this fertilizer factory,” Mashud said.

“Primarily, we plan to meet our local demand from this factory’s production. We import fertilizer regularly from different countries. The establishment of this factory would enable us to secure fertilizer imports for farmers.”

Bangladesh used to meet over 70 percent of its DAP demand from domestic production, but the figure has fallen in recent years.

“Now, the production volume has come down to 30 percent. Many of our local fertilizer factories are not functioning at full capacity,” Jahangir Alam, agricultural economist and former vice-chancellor of the University of Global Village in Barisal, told Arab News.

Sourcing fertilizer from different countries has become difficult, he said.

“If we can establish a joint venture fertilizer factory, our farmers will benefit a lot. The supply channel will be smooth, and it will check the increase of fertilizer prices during the peak demand season.”

Bangladesh seeks to produce fertilizer in Saudi Arabia amid dwindling supply

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[Indos]

The raw material is gas

BD should build the plant in the country and gets the long term gas with Indonesian Andaman operator, build the pipe line to transport the gas

Aceh has promising oil and gas potential: Ministry

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has stated that Aceh has promising oil and gas potential, as more deposits were found in the Andaman ...

en.antaranews.com

 

[Indos]

The raw material is gas

BD should build the plant in the country and gets the long term gas with Indonesian Andaman operator, build the pipe line to transport the gas

Aceh has promising oil and gas potential: Ministry

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has stated that Aceh has promising oil and gas potential, as more deposits were found in the Andaman ...

en.antaranews.com

If BD doesnt want to build the pipe line, there in Aceh is planned to be LNG hub with gas coming from Andaman and other areas in Aceh. Previously Aceh also has huge gas so the facility built by Pertamina has already been quite adequate.

Arun LNG facility seen on the coast areas

 

[tonyget]

The raw material is gas

BD should build the plant in the country and gets the long term gas with Indonesian Andaman operator, build the pipe line to transport the gas

You can use coal to produce nitrogen fertilizer

 

[Indos]

You can use coal to produce nitrogen fertilizer

Well this is new information for me, thanks.

 

[bluesky]

The raw material is gas

Not exactly, the raw material is Phosphate and natural gas. The chemical formula of this fertilizer is (NH4)2HPO4.

(NH4) itself is converted from natural gas (CH4) by extracting Nitrogen (N) from the air to mix with the Hydrogen (H) after expelling Carbon (C) from CH4. But the other part is from Phosphate.

 

[Tom-tom]

Look at that, all this talk of these spineless fundamentalist extremist spreading idiots of hot air talking about investing billions in bdesh. It turns out that bdesh is investing in the of ksa through joint venture.

These a.holes have no shame? I wonder if our officials go there will we get the best of their dining and food? Or is that only reserved for thier white ppl they so dearly idolise?

 

[bluesky]

I am almost sure this news is a kind of gossip to gear up the other restive of the BAL party. Come tomorrow everyone will forget about it.

BD still has natural gas and it can import potassium to produce this kind of fertilizer,

BD already has a Potassium-based fertilizer factory in Patenga, It is Triple-superphosphate (TSP) Fertilizer Factory.

 

[Tom-tom]

I am almost sure this news is a kind of gossip to gear up the other restive of the BAL party. Come tomorrow everyone will forget about it.

BD still has natural gas and it can import potassium to produce this kind of fertilizer,

BD already has a Potassium-based fertilizer factory in Patenga, It is Triple-superphosphate (TSP) Fertilizer Factory.

It's alright, when our ppl go there with hot flaping through the lip, we should expect fine dining experience. They are into belly dancing performers, I we should expect that. Also only the best.

 

[Arthur]

If BD doesnt want to build the pipe line, there in Aceh is planned to be LNG hub with gas coming from Andaman and other areas in Aceh. Previously Aceh also has huge gas so the facility built by Pertamina has already been quite adequate.

Arun LNG facility seen on the coast areas

That seems too long a pipeline to me. What's the distance between Aceh & Bangladesh?

Importing LNG sounds more plausible to me.

 

[Destranator]

That seems too long a pipeline to me. What's the distance between Aceh & Bangladesh?

Importing LNG sounds more plausible to me.

If Bd builds this pipeline, BN would have to kick USN and PLAN out of the region and dominate themselves.

 

[Indos]

That seems too long a pipeline to me. What's the distance between Aceh & Bangladesh?

Importing LNG sounds more plausible to me.

Yup, quite a long pipe line if BD wants to get cheaper natural gas. LNG will likely the one being choosen if BD wants to build new fertilizer plant. In Aceh we also have several big fertilizer plants own by SOE, some of the gas will be taken from LNG coming from Kalimantan ( Badak LNG plan own by Pertamina ).

If Andaman gas project is completed, then fertilizer plants in Aceh will likely dump LNG and chose natural gas instead

LNG production in Arun is stopped currently as the gas is running out, but will likely get started again from gas in Andaman sea and also several new gas exploration around Aceh sea

It will be cheaper if BD wants to get LNG from Aceh compared to buying LNG from Middle East.

 

[Arthur]

If Bd builds this pipeline, BN would have to kick USN and PLAN out of the region and dominate themselves.

I doubt BN can even dominate a squadron of PLAN, let alone both USN & PLAN.

But Bangladesh shall promote a strategic relations with Indonesia & Malaysia. It’s in our national interest.