Glitch Shuts Australia’s Biggest Maker Of Vital Fertilizer Input For 2 Months At Worst Possible Time

Australia’s largest ammonia plant will be shut for two months to repair damage caused by a power outage, amidst a global supply crunch for the vital fertiliser and explosives ingredient.

To say that the shutdown comes at the worst possible time for the global fertilizer market would be an understatement: more than a quarter of the world’s traded ammonia flows through the Strait of Hormuz, as do 43% of urea shipments, the fertilizer made from ammonia. As we discussed in recent days, that flow has been cut to a trickle as Iran blockaded the SoH, as have vital gas supplies, causing fertilizer plants in India to shut.

Adding insult to injury, last week Yara’s Pilbara plant, which uses gas to produce 850,000 tonnes of ammonia a year, suffered a power outage, damaging equipment, BoilingCold reports.

A spokesman for the Norwegian company said workers and the environment were unaffected, and initial assessments indicated repairs could take about two months. . .

An adjacent plant, half-owned by Australia’s Orica, uses 140,000 tonnes of the ammonia to make the explosive technical ammonium nitrate (TAN) for WA’s mining sector. The remaining ammonia is shipped to Australian and international customers, and much of it is used to make urea fertilizer. (Read more from “Glitch Shuts Australia’s Biggest Maker Of Vital Fertilizer Input For 2 Months At Worst Possible Time” HERE)