china bluechemi know that the consensus is that "the subscriber" is sinofert...nevertheless, here is an article i found.
BlueChem eyes plant investments overseas
Eric Ng
28 August 2009
SCMCOM
China BlueChemical(BlueChem) is seeking opportunities to build nitrogenous fertiliserplants and acquire potassium fertiliser resources overseas as part ofits strategy to expand its product line and internationalise itsoperations.
The unit of offshore oil and gas producer China National Offshore Oil Corpwants to invest in urea plants abroad because the domestic market forthe nitrogenous fertiliser is oversupplied and the price of its mainraw material, natural gas, is getting more expensive, chief executiveYang Yexin said.
"The Middle East has a lot of cheap gas," he said. "We also need togrow our operation's scale and globalise it ... If you look at renownedfertiliser firms like [Norway's] Yara, they all have operationsworldwide."
Beijing has encouraged state firms to expand and invest abroad sothat they can become internationally competitive, and also to secureresources for the booming economy.
For years, China BlueChem has been scouring the world for potash, to break into the market. The mainland has to import 70 per cent of its needs for the potassium fertiliser.
Mr Yang said it was difficult to make potash investments, asthe resources are concentrated in a few countries, but added: "Still,deals have been done, and not cheap, too."
Rival Sinofert Holdings also wants to take advantage of the sharpplunge in valuation of international fertiliser firms and has been intalks to acquire potash assets in Central Asia.
China BlueChem and partner Shanxi Hualu plan to spend up to 5billion yuan (HK$5.67 billion) in the next five years to build a ureaplant in Shanxi province with an annual output capacity of 1.04 milliontonnes. Half of the capacity is scheduled to come on stream by early2012. The 51 per cent-held project will significantly boost China BlueChem's output, which was 941,000 tonnes in the first half.
The firm recently paid 637 million yuan for a 49 per cent stake in acoal mine, the output of which will be feedstock for the urea plant,about 20 kilometres away.
BlueChem posted on Wednesday a 50.2 per cent year-on-year drop innet profit to 527.02 million yuan for the first half. Sales fell 22.2per cent to 2.83 billion yuan on a 51.6 per cent plunge in the price ofmethanol. Copyright (c) 2009. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.