Bolivia’s President Luis Arce signed an agreement this past week for the construction of an NPK fertilizer plant in the country’s central Cochabamba province, which will use urea from the Bulo Bulo plant, according to a BNamericas report.
The proposed new fertilizer plant is seen as strengthening the country’s agricultural sector and will help reduce input costs.
According to the report, the Bolivian Industrialization and Hydrocarbons Co. (EBIH) and the construction company Sur Energy SRL have inked the construction contract for the plant, which is to be located in the Santivañez Industrial Park, in the Santivañez municipality.
The value of the construction contract is put at $8.9 million, according to a Bloomberg report, citing state media, which in turn cited Bolivia’s Hydrocarbons and Energy Minister Franklin Molina.
EBIH will manage the new production facility, which is expected to start operations in July 2023, and have a potential production of 60,000 mt/y, according to Molina.
Bulo Bulo is Bolivia’s only nitrogen fertilizer production facility. Also located in Cochabamba province, it has a nameplate capacity of 2,100 mt/d of granular urea.
The plant, which is operated by the country’s state-run oil and gas company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), restarted production last September after an almost 22-month hiatus (GM Sept. 10, 2021).
The Bulo Bulo plant produced 273,688 mt of urea in the six months to June 30 this year, Bloomberg reported, citing a YPFB press release. Some 85% of the output was exported, and 15% sold in the domestic market. The total value of the six-month urea exports was put at more than $160 million.
The main markets are Brazil and Argentina, according to the report.