Research On Chinese Phosphate Fertilizer Product Export

Fertilizer is necessary for planting crops while non-renewable phosphate ore is one of the necessary elements of fertilizer. With the global and domestic population growth, the demand of phosphate fertilizer will constantly increase; hence the phosphate ore resource usage will determine food safety and phosphate industry's further development. With the economic development and global population growth, the international fertilizer demand is increasing constantly; hence many countries are beginning to be involved in the war of scrambling fertilizer raw materials such as phosphate ores and potassium rocks. Phosphate ore has drawn great attention from governments and international resource capital because it is a kind of non-renewable resource and is also one of most significant elements needed by all life. Therefore, phosphate ores in the future will become one of the most strategic resources like rare earth and iron ore. Although the Chinese phosphate ore storage ranks the second after Morocco in the world, more than 90% of it is of low or medium grade which needs further beneficiation before being used as raw materials for phosphate fertilizers. However, the Chinese advanced low and medium grade phosphate ore beneficiation technology fundamentally solves the bottleneck of Chinese phosphate fertilizer industry development, which lays the foundation for further improving the utilization of phosphate ore resources. According to dialectical resource concept, we know that:Although resource is limited, the ability of human beings in utilizing resource is unlimited; therefore, we should continuously make technology innovations for better exploring and utilizing resources in the future. What's more, the main producing countries are beginning to restructure the phosphate fertilizer industry to improve production capacity; meanwhile, the industry centralization is enhanced by integration or mergers; and large scale companies are established to greatly improve productivity. Therefore, the international competition of phosphate products is becoming more and more intense; hence the phenomenon of increasing international demand co-exists with increasing international competition. However, there are many problems existing in the Chinese phosphate fertilizer industry, such as inferior international trade structures, low industrial international competitiveness, overcapacity transfer failure and large enterprises shocked by the government policy of export limits. As a result, in the current stage, the Chinese phosphate fertilizer industry should develop its international market by taking full advantage of low and medium grade phosphate ore beneficiation technology, optimizing industry structures and highly improving its international competitiveness.In Chapter 1, this paper introduces the research background and study purpose. By analyzing the significance of phosphate fertilizer in agriculture, the significance of phosphate ore resources in the industry and the critical role of low and medium grade phosphate ore beneficiation technology in the phosphate fertilizer industry, we have a comprehensive knowledge of the research purpose and lay a primary foundation for later chapters. What's more, in this chapter we also introduce relevant literature and ideas about phosphate ore, phosphate fertilizer products'international competitiveness and international trade theory based on technology innovation.In Chapter 2, the author mainly analyzes the world phosphate fertilizer industry patterns which include phosphate fertilizer production and trade, phosphate fertilizer demand and phosphate ore resource Firstly, the world phosphate production and trade pattern is such that the world's main phosphate fertilizer producers have begun to restructure the phosphate fertilizer industry to improve production capacity; meanwhile, most of them have realized self-sufficiency, which leads to enhanced international competition for phosphate fertilizer products; what's more, the international trade of phosphate fertilizer is increasing. The Chinese phosphate fertilizer production and trade pattern is such that the production ability is increasing with self-sufficiency; the production of high concentration phosphate fertilizer is increasing while that of low concentration phosphate fertilizer is decreasing; the bottleneck of the industry has been solved because of the innovation of low and medium grade phosphate ore beneficiation technology; the production and trade structure has been improved and will be gradually optimized in the future. Secondly, the world phosphate fertilizer demand pattern is such that it is increasing along with world population growth and bio-energy development. The Chinese phosphate fertilizer demand pattern is such that due to the presently available phosphorous accumulation in Chinese arable fields, the domestic phosphate fertilizer demand will only increase in short and medium terms but will become stable in the long run; consequently, the increasing international market demand will co-exist with the increasing international market competition. Therefore, this chapter demonstrates the necessity to move from the current import replacement stage or the self-sufficiency stage to the future international expansion stage. Thirdly, the world phosphate ore pattern is such that the explored phosphate ore reserves are increasing but mainly concentrated in some countries such as Morocco, China and the U.S.A; most of the world phosphate ore resources are of low and medium grades and are not easily explored; what's more, world phosphate ore resource concentration differs in different countries. The Chinese phosphate ore resource pattern is such that although total reserves of the Chinese phosphate ore ranks second in the world, more than 90% are of low and medium grades; 85% are concentrated in southwest provinces such as Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan; what's more, the domestic demand of phosphate ore will increase in short and medium terms but maintain stability in the long run; besides, in terms of the breakthrough of low and medium grade phosphate ore beneficiation technology, the domestic phosphate ore supply will be guaranteed in the future. At last, we make a comprehensive comparison of the Chinese phosphate ore resource situation with the U.S.A and Morocco on aspects of phosphate resource condition, further resource supply and demand, resource utilization, resource advantage and development strategy to evaluate the Chinese phosphate fertilizer resource competitiveness and its influences on the industry international competitiveness.In Chapter 3, this paper mainly introduces low and medium grade phosphate ore beneficiation technology and analyzes how the technology influences the Chinese phosphate fertilizer product export and the industry international competitiveness. Although Chinese phosphate ore reserves rank the second after Morocco in the world, more than 90% are of low or medium grades which need further beneficiation before being used as raw materials in phosphate fertilizer production. However, the Chinese advanced low and medium grade phosphate ore beneficiation technology has fundamentally solved the bottleneck of the Chinese phosphate fertilizer industry development, which lays the foundation to further improve the utilization of phosphate ores. Besides, in Chapter 3.2 this paper introduces the theories of technology innovation influencing the product export, which mainly includes three models:technology gap trade model, the product life circle model, and the north-south trade model. From the theories we can conclude that:technology innovation, especially the core technology innovation, is the prime motivator for further developing the industry and enhancing competitiveness. As for the phosphate fertilizer industry, the low and medium grade phosphate ore beneficiation technology has not only strategically optimized the Chinese phosphate fertilizer product trade structure, but also fundamentally improved its international competitiveness and effectively helped the industry get rid of the negative influence from international resource nationalism. Consequently, it proves the feasibility of the Chinese phosphate fertilizer industry moving from current self-sufficiency stage towards the further international expansion stage. In Chapter 3.4, this paper also demonstrates main problems of Chinese phosphate fertilizer in product export, which includes weak international competitiveness, overcapacity transfer failure, and enterprises shock because of export limitation policy.In Chapter 4, we advance strategies for improving the international competitiveness of the Chinese phosphate fertilizer industry from the aspects of enterprise, industry and government policy by combining the Chinese phosphate fertilizer industry development environment with low and medium grade phosphate ore beneficiation technology. Firstly, from the enterprise aspect we suggest that the Chinese phosphate fertilizer industry should promote the advanced technology according to local phosphate ore resource characteristics; optimize the international product trade structures by increasing the export of high concentration phosphate fertilizer of high added value and decreasing the export of phosphate ore resources and low concentration phosphate fertilizer of low added value; improve the efficiency of ore exploration and utilization, thus greatly improving the international competitiveness of the Chinese phosphate fertilizer enterprises. Secondly, from the aspect of the industry we suggest that the Chinese phosphate fertilizer industry should grasp the current great chance of increasing international market demand to optimize the industry structure and improve the industry's international competitiveness. This would be realized by taking full advantage of low and medium grade phosphate ore beneficiation technology. The concrete strategies include optimizing industry structure, encouraging the co-operation of phosphate ore exploration and fertilizer production, and seeking foreign resource co-operation by exporting the advanced technology to other countries. Thirdly, from the aspect of government policy, the Chinese government should limit the export of phosphate ore of low price and large quantity. The reasons are as follows:for one thing, phosphate ore is a non-renewable necessary element of phosphate fertilizer production; for another thing, the export of phosphate ore of low price and large scale has brought great damage to the industry and the country. However, the government should implement some moderate and balanced policies pertaining to phosphate fertilizer export rather than extremely limiting policies which have brought great shock to the industry and also resulted in cutthroat competition in the domestic market. Besides, the government should establish a phosphate ore industry admittance system to regulate and optimize phosphate ore exploration and utilization. What's more, the government should encourage technology innovations in the phosphate fertilizer industry and offer technology support to the industry and enterprises; hence the Chinese phosphate fertilizer industry can realize sustainable development in the long run. At last, the government should implement the strategy of "North Import and South Export" to optimize resource allocation; reduce transportation and production cost, and finally step towards a promising new development stage. Chapter 5 is the conclusion of the research. The current situation is both an opportunity and a challenge to the Chinese phosphate fertilizer industry. Therefore, the industry should grasp the chance of increasing international demand to strategically develop Chinese phosphate industry and greatly enhance the industry international competitiveness. It will be realized by taking full advantage the advanced low and medium grade phosphate ore beneficiation technology.Because the time, data, and resources are limited, this research primarily focuses on the analysis of the impacts of core technology innovation on the Chinese phosphate fertilizer industry development, while other factors are not comprehensively and deeply studied. As a result, I hope that future studies can make up for these shortages.