China Nitrogen Industry Association puts forward six suggestions for ensuring the supply of nitrogen fertilizers next spring

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China Nitrogen Fertilizer Association puts forward six suggestions for ensuring an adequate supply of nitrogen fertilizers during next spring’s planting season. Author/Source: Sinochem News Network. Date: November 23, 2021. Clicks: 24. On November 19, reporters learned from the China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association that at a meeting on the production and operation of the fertilizer industry held by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently, Gu Zongqin, president of the association, proposed six policy recommendations to ensure an adequate supply of nitrogen fertilizers for next spring’s planting season. 　　Gu Zongqin explained that the primary issue facing the nitrogen fertilizer industry at present is the excessively high price of coal. At current coal prices, urea products from both intermittent fixed-bed plants and new gasification plants suffer losses to varying degrees. Secondly, energy use indicators are restricted. At present, some nitrogen fertilizer manufacturers in Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Jiangsu and other regions are forced to reduce production or shut down due to restrictions on energy usage quotas. Once again, environmental protection and production restriction policies have a significant impact. In autumn and winter, the proportion of urea production capacity affected by environmental protection-related production restrictions increased by 16.2 percentage points; this had an impact of approximately 1.177 million tons on ammonia production and 1.231 million tons on urea production. Furthermore, the current production of nitrogen fertilizers is too low; the daily national production of urea has decreased by 10.11% on a year-on-year basis. 　　Gu Zongqin suggested that to ensure an adequate supply of nitrogen fertilizer for next year’s spring plowing, the relevant departments should carry out the following six tasks. First, ensure a stable supply of coal for nitrogen fertilizer production in order to guarantee the availability of nitrogen fertilizers; at the same time, achieve full coverage of long-term contracts for coal used in nitrogen fertilizer production, thereby reducing the price of coal used in such production ； Second, it is to ensure a stable supply of natural gas and stable prices for nitrogen fertilizer manufacturers that rely on natural gas ； Third, during the period of preparing fertilizers for spring plowing, the assessment of enterprises’ energy consumption control targets is relaxed ； Fourth, as a product essential for people’s livelihoods, nitrogen fertilizers should not be subject to the same electricity price fluctuations applied to high-energy-consuming industries; the range of such fluctuations should be limited to within 20% ； Fifth, fixed-bed enterprises that have undergone clean transformation should follow the same environmental protection production restriction policies as those using new gasification technologies ； Sixth, strengthen the supervision and guidance of enterprises engaged in the commercial storage of chemical fertilizers to ensure the proper fulfillment of storage tasks. 　　In response, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology called on the local industry and information technology authorities at the seminar to adopt a problem-oriented approach, provide greater policy support, ensure priority in supplying production factors such as raw materials and energy to fertilizer manufacturers, and guide these companies in arranging their production activities in a proper manner so as to maintain the stable operation of fertilizer production facilities ； Strengthen the connection between supply and demand; work together with industry associations and key enterprises to establish platforms for matching supply and demand, and assist in preparing fertilizer allocation in advance ； Ensure effective monitoring and early warning, promptly track and analyze industry trends, understand the actual situation, keep abreast of changes in market demand, and assist in coordinating solutions to problems. 　　At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also requires industry associations to play a bridging role, take proactive actions, and encourage the industry to strengthen self-discipline. Key fertilizer companies must focus on their production and operations, carry out effective disaster prevention and epidemic control measures, to ensure uninterrupted production and stable output levels.