Fertilizers are substances that can supply crops with the nutrients the soil lacks. A fertilizer, in this sense, is a substance that contains some or all of a range of about (20) twenty chemical elements that are necessary for healthy plant growth. The fertilizers in use are divided into two groups: organic and inorganic.

Organic Fertilizers

Organic fertilizers are composed of organic matter — plant or animal — and known to improve the soil life as well as its long-term productivity. Organic fertilizers can occur naturally or be processed with the former, including such materials as farm yard manure, bone meal, fishmeal, slurry, worm castings, peat, seaweed, guano, etc. On the other hand, processed organic fertilizers contain compost, bone meal, amino acids, seaweed extracts, etc.

Inorganic Fertilizers

Inorganic fertilizers are chemicals and/or minerals that are synthesized to produce ammonia, which in turn is used as a feedstock for other nitrogen fertilizers such as urea. Ammonia can be combined with rock phosphate and potassium fertilizer to produce compound fertilizers. Most of the ammonia is used to make fertilizers, such as ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate. Inorganic fertilizers have been used on a large scale since 1945. Compounds of nitrogen and phosphorus are of particular importance. Synthetic fertilizers consist of various combinations of salts and supply plants with the elements that they need. Most fertilizers concentrate on supplying the necessary nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) and are called NPK fertilizers.

Nitrogen Fertilizers

Though nitrogen is plentiful in the earth’s atmosphere, relatively few plants engage in nitrogen fixation (conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to a biologically useful form). Most plants, thus, require nitrogen compounds to be present in the soil, in which they grow. The Haber process is an industrial process for converting nitrogen from the air into ammonia, which is a chemical made of Nitrogen 82% and Hydrogen 18%. In this process, nitrogen and hydrogen are combined at a temperature of 350–500°C and a pressure of 80–200 atmospheres, using iron catalyst. Ammonia is applied directly to the soil or used to produce other compounds, notably urea and ammonium nitrate, both dry and concentrated products. Urea is a solid fertilizer, containing 46.6% of Nitrogen. It is produced by the reaction of Ammonia and Carbon dioxide under high pressure. Ammonia can also be used in the Odda Process in combination with rock phosphate and potassium fertilizer to produce compound fertilizers. Natural gas is overwhelmingly used for ammonia production. At the world level, ammonia production currently accounts for about 5% of global natural gas consumption, which is about less than 2% of the world energy production. The cost of natural gas accounts for about 90 per cent of ammonia production cost. This explains why the Gulf, a region with access to abundant natural gas supply, had emerged to become a global hub for the production of Nitrogen-based fertilizers.

The Gulf region has been a participant in the global fertilizer since the 1960s when the first urea and ammonia plants were established in Kuwait. The combination of the natural gas industry and the voluminous supply of elemental sulfur, combined to give the Gulf region the key ingredients to play a significant role in the supply of nitrogen fertilizers to the world’s markets. In terms of the GCC, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have the most production capacity in the region. There are 20 ammonia units in the Gulf region, the majority located in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. All those units are integrated into downstream urea production. The Gulf region will see a number of projects that aim at adding capacity over the next few years. SABIC has been the main player historically in the fertilizer sector in Saudi Arabia and a partial ownership of all of the main current producers in the country as well as in Bahrian through its share in GPIC. SAFCO, which is 43% owned by SABIC and 57% privately owned, is the largest producer in Saudi. SAFCO’s first Urea/Ammonia plant started up in 1969. The Al-Jubail Fertilizer Co. (SAMAD) is a 50:50 joint venture with the Taiwan Co., which started-up in 1983. Ibn Al-Baytar (National Chemical Fertilizer Co. or NCFC) is a 50:50 joint venture between SABIC and SAFCO, which was commissioned in 1987. A fourth company, the United Jubail Fertilizer Company (UJFC), which was started-up in 2003, is owned by five other SABIC affiliates. Through these companies, SABIC is the largest single producer of urea in the world. QAFCO, majority owned by Industries Qatar (75% equity share) and Yara International (25% equity share), is the sole producer of fertilizers in Qatar. QAFCO commissioned its first plant (QAFCO 1) in 1973 with a nominal capacity of 900 tons of ammonia and 1000 tons of urea daily. Since then, QAFCO had been on consistent expansion drive, resulting in having presently four integrated plants: QAFCO 1 (1973), QAFCO 2 (1979), QAFCO 3 (1997), and QAFCO 4 (2004). QAFCO's combined daily production capacities from ammonia and urea stand at 6,150 tons and 8,700 tons, respectively. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, fertilizers production was extended to Bahrain through GPIC, a joint venture equally owned by the Government of Bahrain, SABIC and PIC of Kuwait. On almost the same timeline, FERTIL was established in Abu Dhabi as a joint venture between ADNOC and Total to manufacture nitrogen-based fertilizers. The newest member in the Gulf fertilizers producers club was Oman India Fertilizer Co. (OMIFCO), which was established in 2005 for the production of ammonia/urea in Salalah, Oman. The Gulf fertilizer industry is currently focusing on nitrogen-based fertilizers (ammonia and urea), which make over 95% of the region’s fertilizer production. Phosphates fertilizers account for the remaining 5% of production. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the GCC, producing phosphate fertilizer with a capacity of 0.14 million tons per annum. This will significantly change in 2011 with the start-up of Maaden's 3 million tons per annum and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizer plant. The GCC region does not currently have any potash capacity.

According to IFA, the ere is a massive expansion throughout the region with new fertilizer capacities, coming on stream by 2015 and accounting for 61% of the current production capacity. By 2015, the combined fertilizers production capacities of the Gulf region will amount to about 45 million ton per annum. This massive expansion drive entails adding production capacities for ammonia, urea and phosphate fertilizers.

This will further improve the positioning of the Gulf region as a major production hub for fertilizers, both nitrogen-based and phosphate-based over the next 5 years or so.

GPCA Board of Directors decided to create the Fertilizer Committee in December 2009. The committee's activities are geared towards meeting GPCA’s aims and objectives as well as addressing issues related to fertilizers’ production, safety, health and environment. The Fertilizer Committee works within a wide scope, ranging from developing and fostering relationships among GPCA member companies that have an interest in fertilizer issues to compiling, sharing, and exchanging resources, knowledge, opinions, and experience on fertilizer issues among GPCA members. The Fertilizer Committee discusses and analyzes all fertilizer related issues that come before GPCA. Developing links between GPCA and those regional and international government authorities and communities with an interest in fertilizer issues is an essential part of the Fertilizer Committee’s scope of objectives. The Fertilizer Committee recruits new industry peers and specialists in petrochemicals and chemicals to join GPCA. It also creates networking subcommittee/task force to discuss specific issues that the committee may deem appropriate. Alongside with the members, the Fertilizer Committee aims at sharing and promoting best practices in the fertilizer industry through workshops, seminars, conferences, and general networking among GPCA members.

The Fertilizer Committee’s Members

The Fertilizer Committee consists of no more than twelve (12) members from GPCA full member companies. In addition, the Board of Directors may appoint up to five (5) ex officio members from GPCA associate members. Members should be senior executives as well. Nominations for the committee shall be made by the members of GPCA subject to the approval of the Board of Directors. No company shall have more than two representatives on the committee. The Fertilizer Committee members are appointed for a term of three (3) years and may be reappointed to serve additional consecutive terms of three years. The Board of Directors may review the make-up of the committee on an annual basis and implement any changes deemed appropriate, including appointment of new members to replace old members to assure all full members have an opportunity to be represented. GPCA Fertilizer Committee comprises members from leading regional companies such as: SABIC, FERTIL, MA’ADEN, OMIFCO, PIC, QAFCO, and GPIC.

The GPCA Fertilizer Convention is an annual event, organized by the GPCA Fertilizer Committee. The First GPCA Fertilizer Convention was held in Dubai on September 26-28, 2010 addressing a theme "Working Towards Food Security; Forecasting Fertilizers Demand – Strategies for Supply." The event was launched in 2010 to be a platform, where issues related to the fertilizer industry are discussed and debated. It aims at bringing together fertilizers producers, technology providers and fertilizers consumers to exchange information and understand future challenges to further forge long-term strategies to ensuing global food security. Moreover, the convention aims at discussing the current and future market trends, supply-demand balance and new developments, related to maximizing the efficiency of the fertilizer usage. Below is the link to the GPCA Fertilizer Convention’s program, speakers, venue, sponsorship & exhibition, press releases and photo gallery.