Production and Market of Ammonium Nitrate
                      By Xuan Enfeng
Ammonium nitrate is an excellent nitrogenous fertilizer. It
is also a major raw material for  conventional  explosives
used in national defense.
1. Domestic production
Ammonium nitrate units in large enterprises such as Lanzhou
  Chemical  Industrial  Corporation,     Taiyuan   Chemical
  Industrial  Corporation  and  Jilin  Chemical  Industrial
Corporation are all old  units  which  have  operated  for
several dozen years. Both technologies and  equipment  are
outdated. Their energy consumption and production cost are
high. Table 1 shows the major ammonium  nitrate  producers
in China.
2. Domestic resources and market demand
China produced 3.19 million tons and imported 247 000  tons
of ammonium nitrate (physical product) in 1997 to meet the
need in agricultural production. The  expected  output  in
1998 is around 3.50 million tons, and the import  will  be
controlled by the  state.   However,   as  there  is  some
inventory carried over from last year,   ammonium  nitrate
will still be in short demand in the year.
Table 2 and Table 3 show the import of ammonium nitrate  in
1997 and in the months from January to March 1998.
Both the production and marketing of ammonium nitrate  were
slack in China in the first quarter this  year.   Compared
with the same period  last  year,   the  amount  sold  and
purchased by departments of agricultural production  means
had a big margin drop. According to statistics, the amount
sold was 147 000 tons and the amount purchased was 156 000
tons in the first quarter this year, a drop of 8.3% and 54
.8% respectively  from  the  same  period  last  year.   No
  remarkable  recovery  is  expected  in  the  agricultural
ammonium nitrate market in the near future.
    Table 1   Major Ammonium Nitrate Producers in China
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Producer                            Capacity       Output  
                                                  in 1997  
                                   ('000 t/a)      ('000 t)
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Shijiazhuang Chemical Fertilizer Plant     150          105
Taiyuan Chemical Industrial Corporation    310          177
Inner Mongolia Wulashan
   Fuxing Chemical Fertilizer Co., Ltd.    140          108
Dalian Chemical Industrial Corporation     170          68.9
Jilin Chemical Fertilizer Plant            280          280.8
Heilongjiang Chem. Industrial Group Corp.  120          102.5
Daqing Petrochem. General Plant of SINOPEC 120          94.2
Nanjing Chemical Industrial Group Corp.    150          122.5
Anhui Huainan Chemical Ind. Group Co., Ltd. 110         28.3
Henan Kaifeng Chemical Fertilizer Plant    100          59.1
Hubei Exi Chemical Plant                   110          68.8
Guangxi Liuzhou Chemical Fertilizer Plant  130          123
Sichuan Chemical Industrial Group Co., Ltd. 240         169.8
Luzhou Natural Gas & Chemical Ind. Corp.    50          66.5
Guizhou Jianjiang Chemical Fertilizer Plant 60          67.5
PLA Chemical Fertilizer Plant               200         153
Yunnan Natural Gas & Chemical Ind. Group    110         91.6
Shaanxi Xingping Chemical Fertilizer Plant  220         185.3
Lanzhou Chemical Industrial Corporation     300         92.8
Xinjiang Chemical Fertilizer Plant          110         51.6
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      Table 2   Import of Ammonium Nitrate in 1997
                                                   ('000 t)
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       Import in 1997            |        Import in 1996
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physical  converted  growth over |physical     converted
product   to 100%   1996 (%)      product      to 100%
   247       84       -79.3          1 139        387.4
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Table 3 Import and Export of Ammo