THE CHINESE FERTILIZER INDUSTRY IS IN FULL SWING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A007400290002-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 20, 2009
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 31, 1959
• Content Type: REPORT

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n i NES FERTILIZEa INDII,= Y T I N.FUI L+ SWING
by
HsuChien
Only about ten years ago, the Chinese chemical fertilizer
industry was all but nonexistent. Its expansion appeared to be
the only means of eliminating the insufficiency of cultivatable
land relative to the population.
Considerable. progress has already been made within the frame-
work of the first five year plan, but it is almost insignificant
compared with the immense construction program which China has
undertaken. This includes expansion of old installations and
the erection of a multitude of new plants, large and small,
producing a greater variety of fertilizer compounds.
During the period which preceded the liberation, the Chinese market was dominated
by the products of the British monopoly of Imperial Chemical Industries. Although
China is essentially an agricultural country, it began to manufacture its own
chemical fertilizers only about 20 years ago.
The first fertilizer plant in China, the private installation of the chemical works,
Tung Li, was established at Nanking at the beginning of 1937. Its predicted annual
production capacity was 50,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizer consisting of ammonium
sulphate; but before six months had elapsed, it was deliberately destroyed by
Japanese bombers at the time of the attack on Shanghai by the Japanese militarists,
August 13, 1937. At almost the same time, the Manchurian Chemical Company, a
Japanese company, constructed a factory at Dairen, in the northeast; but it was not
used for Chinese agriculture, for almost all of its production was sent to Japan.
At the moment of the victory over the Japanese, China found itself at the head of
this factory at Dairen and the ruins of the chemical installations at Nanking. The
factory at Dairen had been so damaged by the occupants at the end of the Japanese
occupation that the Kuomintang did not even try to restore production. The Nanking
factory was progressively reconditioned, but lack of fuel and raw material never
permitted it to exceed the production of 27,000 tons of ammonium sulphate which it
attained in 1949, the year that the country was liberated.
Thus practically no chemical fertilizer industry existed in China before the
liberation of the country. In addition, the country lacked the foreign exchange to
import the large quantities of these products which were so necessary to the life
of the nation. Moreover, even if one had been able to produce or import them, the
buying power of the peasant was very low and he was little inclined to buy them
and use them. Traditionally, the Chinese peasant has used only farm manure and
fecal materials; and although he may be very skilled in their preparation and use,
these means were tragically inadequate relative to the needs of the country.
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* baginnillas, the new regime recognized the importance of the creation of
cad srtilizer industry. The Japanese had planned to prevent restoration
of the plant at Dairen for at least ten years. Actually, it was rebuilt in May,
1,951 and anlarged two years later. The chemical works Yung Li at Ranking, which
.bid became a joint enterprise with participation of the State, wae?similarly
d. The annual production of these two installations is several times the
4 Nres attained before the liberation, without taking into account the
1"1 t improvement in the quality of their products. The chemical plant at
1r ,produces 250,000 tons per year and that at Yung Li 270,000 tons.
411110440 is certainly not content with these two factories. Within the framework
4' till last five year plan of economic development new factories, large and small,
tame been built in all parts of the country. One nitrogen fertilizer plant has
i*sn constructed and placed in operation at Kirin, in northeast China, with the
aid of the U.S.S.R; it is equipped according to the latest technology, its
production is electrically controlled, and the machines are protected and sheltered
from explosions. Work has begun on three other similar factories of large capacity
and of modern design. The equipment necessary for an annual production of 200,000
tons of powdered superphosphate has been furnished for a large phosphate fertilizer
factory which is now under construction in Manchuria. It will be the first of its
type in China.
Six other factories of smaller capacity, about 10,000 tons per year, have likewise
been constructed in different provinces. In 1957, Chinese production reached
600,000 tons of chemical fertilizer, about 3-1/2 times the highest figure registered
before the liberation. But this represents only a fraction of the real needs of the
country; it is only a beginning.
China uses only a small area of cultivatable land relative to its enormous popu-
lation; the average land under cultivation.is about 1/5 of a hectare (1/2 acre)
per inhabitant. In order that China can progress economically, it is of vital
importance that she increase her production of agricultural commodities and
although certain results in this direction can be achieved by the more costly
method of clearing land, it is evident that the use of chemical fertilizer in larger
quantities on the lands cultivated is one of the best solutions.
By way Of comparison, let us say that if one invested, for example, 2,000 million
yen (about 294 million pounds sterling) in clearing land, one would obtain 1,900,000
cultivatable hectares which would add about 2,1 0,000 tons of grains. It one
invested this sum in the chemical fertilizer industry, the additional production of
4-1/2 million tons of fertilizer per year which would result from it would add
12,750,000 tons of grains annually. In other words, one would obtain six times the
increase obtainable by clearing land.
Based on such considerations, China has revised its agricultural program; discussions
r this subject have taken place in the whole region, and the second five year plan
which vent into effect in January 1958, places a considerable emphasis on the chemical
i tilizer industry. Attractive objectives have been established: 5-7 million tons
'962 at the end of the second five year plan and approximately 15 million tons
the third five year plan in 1967.
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,scar to realize these objectives an immense construction program is under study.
sting installations are being enlarged, new factories are being constructed,
4MA tke cities, provinces and departments are being encouraged to construct the
Est possible number of small or medium size plants. In order to hasten the
f ifillment of this program, some typical plans for installations have been worked
out; the construction of very small plants according to these designs requires only
six months, and 15 months for medium size plants, from the beginning of work until
full production. These new plants are equipped principally with material of
Chinese manufacture which is now possible thanks to the development of the machine
construction industry.
Production will not merely be considerably increased at the end of the second five
year plan in 1962; the variety of fertilizers will likewise be larger, encompassing
ammonium chloride, urea, calcium cyanamid and the triple superphosphates, as well
as ammonium sulphate and calcium superphosphate which China produces already.
Just for the year 1958, besides the four large fertilizer factories which were
already under construction at the beginning of the year, one has undertaken the
expansion of three existing plants and the construction of ten new plants situated
in the grain producing provinces. The funds devoted to the fertilizer industry in
1958 should have been double those of the preceeding year and have approached the
total of the four years from 1953 to 19560These seventeen plants will add an
annual production of 1,688,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizer (expressed as ammonium
sulphate), 800,000 tons of phosphate fertilizer and 100,000 tons of calcium nitrate.
In order to respond to the urgent demands which are resulting from the unprecedented
progress in agricultural production, the Minister of the Chemical Industry has worked
out plans for the establishment of a small fertilizer factory in each of the 180
administrative regions of the country (an administrative region includes several
districts) and of a smaller one of each of the 2,000 districts, to be based on a
pilot plant, construction of which was started in Peking at the beginning of April.
This pilot plant will furnish not only data on standard type installations, but
will likewise permit acquiring experience in their construction and in the training
of technical operating personnel.
One type of plant project which is under consideration by the Minister of the
Chemical Industries anticipates for a district a small plant with an annual pro-
duction capacity of 8,000 tons of ammonium bicarbonate. It can be constructed in
about six months, it will occupy a surface of 2/3 of a hectare and will cost,
according to estimates, about 3.5 million yen (or 500,000 pounds sterling), in
this estimate is included 1 million yen for an installation producing the power
necessary for the plant. This total price is actually within the reach of average
districts in China. The training of operating personnel requires little time, for
the manufacturing procedures will be simplified. For the constructing of these
plants, one can employ abundant manual labor in place of machines; and wood and
is kboo replace iron and steel as much as possible.
The typical plan for a larger plant, destined for an administrative region visualizes
the production ofconstruc-
an annual production capacity of abont~5 million y~o5imillionbicarbonate.
tion entails an expenditure
power.
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supplying of raw materials does not present problems; the principal ones are
oil, air and water, and China is finding abundant resources of oil over its whole
territory. With regard to equipment, the necessary steel material can now be
produced in many parts of the country.
It is sufficient to point out that if in several years only 1,000 districts
awistruct their fertilizer factory according to these standards, production of
I million tons will result, which will be added to the total of the production
of the larger factories.
The latest plans show that in addition to the large factories underway, one will
undertake very shortly in the different provinces, administrative regions and
districts, construction of 21 plants averaging 100,000 tons, 7 small plants of
40,000 tons and 36 smaller plants of 8,000 tons annual production capacity. When
these 64 plants and the two pilot plants at Peking and Shanghai are finished, the
total production should reach more than triple the production of 1957. In taking
account of these figures, one can admit that in 1962 the annual production of
chemical fertilizers could rise to 10 million tons, thus exceeding the objectives
of the plan. When the third five year plan comes in in force and when all the
districts-and all the administrative regions possess their own chemical fertilizer
factories, it is foreseen that China will produce more than 30 million tons
annually, that is to say a third more than the United States in 1955-1956.
In a general way, the use of 1 kg of chemical fertilizer increases the harvest
of food products by 3 to 4 kg or that of cotton by 1 to 2 kg. Likewise chemical
fertilizer saves manual labor; 15 kg of chemical fertilizer are easier to
transport and are equivalent in efficacy to 1.5 tons of compost. Nevertheless
the uses of composts and other organic manures will not be neglected in spite of
the increase foreseen for the production of chemical fertilizer, for the fertilizer
needs of all types are almost limitless in China.
The Chinese cooperative farms,in certain provinces are so enthused by the prospects
of increasing their yields that they are not even waiting until the planned projects
are realized. With their own resources they are constructing small factories or
work shops for the production of composts or chemical fertilizers, bacterial or
other.- In the Se-tchtoan, the Chinese province having the largest production of
grains, the cooperative farms have established their own projects for the second
five year plan with an estimated capital to invest of 150 million yen. In addition,
sore than 2,000 work shops are under construction in different villages of the
outlying province of Kan-sou in northwest China.
It is by the contribution of these efforts on all levels from the village cooper-
ative farm to the Minister of the Chemical Industry, that China intends to solve its
fertilizer problem, and in that way to help raise the level of life of 600 million
rinse.
bwaiated From: Chimie et Industrie, May, 1959 pp 633-636.
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