Abdulrahman Jawahery GPIC President, who led Bahrain’s delegation to the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) organized the 2nd Fertilizer Industry Conference in Doha Qatar, attributed the urea price rise to the fall in China’s exports of urea to neighbouring markets, owing to the export tax scheme applied in that region.
The Conference was orgainsed by GPCA in co-operation with the UK-based CRU consultancy firm which was attended by key industry figures and professionals in the fertilizer industry and support services such as shipping and other related services.
He said that the high level of attendance at this specialized forum, which had attracted the participation of senior representatives of major Arab and international companies. “This level of interest was complemented by the high visitor numbers to the display stands on the sidelines of the Conference, with 260 exhibitors taking part.”
Abdul Moneim Al Najjar, Urea Plant Supervisor, presented a paper about GPIC’s experience in the operation of the urea granulation unit. He dealt with the enhancements and improvements made by the Company for boosting the unit’s production efficiency and the preventative or precautionary maintenance methods applied to the unit.
During the Conference, a number of papers were presented on current trends in fertilizer markets and their future prospects as regards the supply and finance equation.
The papers underlined the high importance of fertilizers in providing the world with food supplies, increased agricultural crops for ensuring food security and meeting the ever-increasing demand for food supplies, especially grains.
Papers at the Conference also focused on the expected increase in demand for food supplies and the efforts being made by countries to preserve their natural resources for the good of their economies, through a reduction in production costs.
In this context, the presented papers reviewed new technologies introduced by companies to boost their current output levels to bring them to around 6,000 metric tons daily.
The fertilizer industry is expected to witness a number of key developments in the near future in terms of increased production capacity, which is set to rise by 10% by the year 2015 (against the levels of 2010) to meet the expected growth in demand of some 3-4% per annum. GPCA plans to organize this Conference on an annual basis, as one of the key events held to allow participants the opportunity to exchange views and to learn about the latest developments in the fertilizer industry and to strengthen relationships among its members.