Food safety: Last ammonia plant in UK closes. Fertilizers are at risk
The government needs to work out a long-term strategy to protect food stocks after the UK's last remaining ammonia plant shuts down, one of the country's biggest trade associations has warned.
Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), has expressed concern over CF Fertilisers' decision last month to permanently shut down ammonia production in Billingham, Teeside.
He told City AM .: “UK food safety is important to any retailer who buys the vast majority of their food here, so losing a plant that produces both fertilizer and CO2 as a by-product is very worrying. This is not a recent problem and while we do not anticipate any immediate impact on food supplies, it is now time for the government to implement a long-term food security plan."
Ammonia molecule
Ammonia is a key raw material in the production of nitrogenous fertilizers, essential for agricultural production, while its by-product, carbon dioxide, is a basic ingredient for food and beverage packaging, fire extinguishers, foam rubber and humane slaughter of animals .
CF Fertilisers, a UK subsidiary of US-based CF Industries, has been the sole domestic producer of ammonium nitrate fertilizer since 2015 and is also responsible for 60% of UK CO2 generation.
Last month it announced the permanent closure of its Billingham ammonia plant after 10 months of inactivity.
At the time, the company revealed the decision had been made in response to high gas prices in the UK compared to rival markets, which meant the plant could no longer be "cost-competitive".
It now intends to continue producing ammonium nitrate and nitric acid fertilizers at the site, but will rely on ammonia imported from the United States.
“The company believes that broad global availability of imported ammonia, including from CF Industries' North American manufacturing network, will enable more competitive and efficient production and sales of ammonium nitrate and nitric acid fertilizers in cost terms for its UK agricultural and chemical customers,” said CF Fertilizers.
The problem is that this abundant ammonia is in the US, not the UK, so in the event of a transport crisis or naval blockade, the UK would risk seeing its agricultural production plummet and its food security in crisis.
It seems that the government was aware of this risk and put pressure on CF Fertilizer to keep the plant active, or in any case always ready to produce, but these pressures did not
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The article Food safety: Last ammonia plant in UK closes. At risk the fertilizers comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/sicurezza-alimentare-chiude-lultimo-impianto-di-ammoniaca-nel-regno-unito-a-rischio-i-fertilizzanti/ on Thu, 24 Aug 2023 09:00:45 +0000.