Yara and Arab Potash Company, the Jordan-based potash producer, have signed an MoU for mutual cooperation in the field of potassium nitrate production and sales
Under the partnership agreement, both the companies will explore and evaluate the possibility of doubling the production capacity of KEMAPCO, the potassium nitrate producing subsidiary of APC. Yara is targeting a minority position (30 per cent) in KEMAPCO with a 100 per cent distribution and marketing agreement for Yara.
Potassium nitrate is a major product in solutions for fertigation, a fast growing segment that Yara and Kemapco aim to develop further through this collaboration.
“Fertigation is the combined application of water and nutrients to a crop, a mix of fertiliser and irrigation in the same application. The collaboration with KEMAPCO will facilitate exchange of technology and know-how and secure access to potassium nitrate that will strengthen our fertigation offering,” said Terje Knutsen, executive vice-president for crop nutrition at Yara.
Kemapco is a subsidiary of the Arab Potash Company and operates a single potassium nitrate plant in Aqaba, Jordan. Production in 2017 amounted to 130 kt potassium nitrate, with sales amounting to about US$105mn.
