The development of the mining industry in the early 20th century necessitated the production of explosives. This led to the founding of a viable fertilizer industry, initially based on by-product sulphuric acid and imported rock phosphates.
Foskor (a government owned corporation) was established in 1951 to exploit the large igneous phosphate complex near Phalaborwa. This successful initiative stimulated further development and major facilities (nitrogen and phosphates) were commissioned through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
During the post World War II years, until the early eighties, the industry flourished in a protected trade environment and government support measures for agriculture in general. One consequence of the latter was the encroachment of cultivation agriculture on marginal areas that are better suited for extensive and semi-extensive cattle farming. While these policies stimulated the horizontal expansion of fertilizer use in the 1970s and 1980s, the movement was not sustainable.
The liberalization of trade policies and the opening-up of the economy that started around 1984, and which gained momentum during the nineties, have led to large scale rationalization and restructuring in the industry throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The fertilizer industry of today is fully exposed to world market forces and operates in a totally deregulated environment with no import tariffs or government sponsored support measures.
Having been a net exporter of downstream fertilizers until the late nineties, South Africa became a net importer after further major plant closures in late 1999 and early 2000. In a fluid world fertilizer market, further rationalization is likely to continue in future.
The South African fertilizer market is very competitive, with four national and two regional operators. Competition is driven through price incentives, product differentiation and specialized services such as individual agronomic advice, custom blending and application.
South Africa’s recent domestic fertilizer demand is around 760 000 tonnes plant nutrients (N + P2O5 + K2O). This demand is met through local production and imports (Table 4).
With no local deposits of potassium salts, South Africa’s total potassium requirement has to be imported. The situation as regards the use of locally produced phosphate rock concentrate as raw material for the production of most phosphate intermediates and downstream products may change in future in favour of a greater emphasis on importation.
South Africa is a significant exporter of phosphoric acid, with Foskor’s Richard Bay’s total capacity of 725 000 tonnes P2O5 being destined for the export market.
Apart from the intermediates and single element fertilizers listed in the table, a wide range of multi-element compounds is offered. Multi-element mixtures are available in the form of granular fertilizers, dry bulk blends, liquid or suspension fertilizers, with or without zinc and, if required, with copper or boron. Some 400 000 tonnes of granular NPK compounds are exported annually to markets in sub-Saharan Africa. These exports contain a component of imported intermediates.
TABLE 4
Fertilizer demand, domestic production and
imports
|
Nutrient |
Demand |
Domestic |
Products |
Imports |
Products |
|
Nitrogen N |
400 |
250 |
Mostly CAN, some AS |
150 |
Mostly urea, some CAN and AS |
|
Phosphate P2O5 |
200 |
Over 90% of demand |
SSP, TSP, MAP, NPKs, blends |
Less than 10% of demand |
Mostly DAP, some MAP and TSP |
|
Potash K2O |
160 |
None |
|
All imported |
Mostly MAP and SOP, some KNO3 etc. |
Source: Machete et al., 2004 (modified).
The retail value of fertilizers sold on the South African market is more than R3 500 million.
Manures remain an important source of plant nutrients, in addition to their undisputed advantages as a biological agent for improving soil health and productivity.
In a 1986 survey carried out by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), as quoted in the Fertilizer Handbook of the Fertilizer Society of South Africa (FSSA, 2003), it is estimated that approximately 350 000 tonnes of chicken manure are generated in various forms, most of which was used as fertilizer at the time. Cattle feedlots also generate considerable quantities of manure. The same survey estimates that 75 000 tonnes of composted cattle manure was sold as fertilizer.
Assuming reasonable nutrient contents of these manures (FSSA Fertilizer Handbook, 2003), some 30 000 tonnes N + P2O5 + K2O were applied as fertilizer in 1986, or approximately 3 to 4 percent of the total nutrients consumed as inorganic fertilizer. In the absence of more recent data, it is reasonable to assume that today manures contribute about the same proportion.
The enrichment of manures (mostly chicken manure) with inorganic fertilizer has been general practice in South Africa for decades. In these products, the benefits of higher plant nutrient concentrations of inorganic fertilizers are combined with the benefits of manure. The NPK content of enriched manures typically varies between 18 and 20 percent.
