Ammonia shut down.GROWHOW UK, which employs around 200 in Tees Valley The Tees Valley is an area the North East of England. It can be described as "greater Teesside" and consists of the four unitary authorities created by the breakup of the County of Cleveland in 1996: Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland, and Stockton-On-Tees along with , has suspended production at its ammonia plant in Billingham following a downturn in demand. The Cheshire-based company - which has also temporarily ceased production at its ammonium nitrate ammonium nitrate, chemical compound, NH4NO3, that exists as colorless, rhombohedral crystals at room temperature but changes to monoclinic crystals when heated above 32°C;. factory at Ince in Chester - said the move would not result in redundancies at its Tees-based operations, nor did it anticipate a reduction in staff hours. A manufacturer of ammonium nitrate and compound fertilisers, GrowHow has been affected by falling demand from farmers, with the price of ammonia slumping from a high of EUR EUR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Euro. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 800/t in August to around EUR250/t. Production of compound ammonium nitrate fertilisers at the Billingham site has not ceased and staff on the ammonia plant have been relocated accordingly. Despite the severity of the decline, the company said it hoped to resume ammonia production Because of its many uses, ammonia is one of the most highly-produced inorganic chemicals. There are literally dozens of large-scale ammonia production plants worldwide. The worldwide production in 2004 was 109,000,000 metric tons.[1] China produced 28. on Teesside "within 1-3 months". Marketing manager Ken Bowler said no redundancies were anticipated at Billingham, which accounts for one third of the company's 600-strong UK workforce. He added the move did not affect its ability to meet demand for UK fertiliser and ammonium nitrate continued to be manufactured at both the company's UK sites to fulfil current orders. "We are currently experiencing a temporary idling because the industrial markets are down. Our primary market is fertiliser production for agriculture. This will pick up by the spring. "The production of food is one of the most prominent industries. You can put off buying a television or a motor car, but not food." Mr Bowler said "a generally good 2008" meant the company's finances could cope with the temporary plant shutdowns and the "artificially low" price of ammonia. He said: "We're in a position where we can ride it out in the short term. We have sufficient stocks to meet all our current orders and will continue to monitor the market situation very closely to determine when it is prudent to resume production." Also a major supplier to the process chemicals industry, GrowHow UK is a 50-50 joint venture between Norwegian fertiliser producer Yara International Yara (OSE: YAR) is a Norwegian company and a world leading supplier of plant nutrients in the form of mineral fertilizers. The core business of Yara is production and marketing of nitrogen fertilizer such as urea and nitrates. and US nitrogen products manufacturer Terra Industries. The company's Billingham plant produces more than 500,000 tonnes of ammonia and around 500,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate each year. Around 50% of total output is used for fertilisers, while the other 50% is used in industrial applications including the manufacture of synthetic fibres. |
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