Bolivia exported 77% of its urea fertilizer production to Brazil in the first quarter of 2023, with some 63,300 mt shipped, according to a Rio Times newspaper report, citing Armin Dorgathen, President of Bolivian state-run oil and gas company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos SA (YPFB).
YPFB’s Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz (formerly known as Bulo Bulo) ammonia and granular urea plant, located in Bolivia’s central Cochabamba province, is the country’s only nitrogen fertilizer production facility. It has a nameplate capacity of 2,100 mt/d of granular urea and restarted production in September 2021 after an almost 22-month hiatus (GM Sept. 10, 2021).
Dorgathen, as cited by the report, said 20% of first-quarter urea output went to the domestic market, while Peru, Paraguay, and Argentina, in addition to Brazil, import Bolivian urea.
However, Bolivia is building an NPK fertilizer plant in Cochabamba province’s Santivañez Industrial Park in the Santivañez municipality, and when operational, will use urea from the Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz plant (GM July 15, 2022).
According to a BNamericas report, the new plant will have a potential production capacity of 60,000 mt/y, and will be managed by Bolivian Industrialization and Hydrocarbons Co. (EBIH), which in partnership with Sur Energy SRL is constructing the new facility.
At the project’s launch last year, the start of operations was targeted for July 2023.