The salt field of SDIC Luobupo Potash Co. Ltd. in Lop Nur. (Photo/Xinhua)
SDIC Luobupo Potash Co. Ltd., the world's largest producer of potassium sulfate fertilizer, has been dedicated to extracting the brine of Lop Nur and producing potassium sulfate fertilizer, promoting the development of west China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Before the establishment of this company, China had been seriously lacking in potassium fertilizers; imports made up more than 70 percent of the Chinese potassium fertilizer market.
When agricultural products are deficient in potassium, one of three essential nutrients for crops' growth, they are vulnerable to a number of issues that have a negative influence on the production and quality of crops.
Potassium fertilizer is crucial to the food security of China. However, before the founding of SDIC Luobupo Potash Co. Ltd., foreign companies had firm control over China's domestic potassium fertilizer market. The reserve of potassium salt in Lop Nur accounts for 30 percent of China's proven potassium salt reserves.
At the end of the 1990s, the world's largest potassium sulfate deposit was discovered in Lop Nur, known as the "Lake of Death."
To date, the SDIC Luobupo Potash Co. Ltd. has produced over 9.2 million tons of potassium sulfate fertilizers, and China's potassium fertilizer self-sufficiency rate has increased to 50 percent. The company plans to continue increasing the capacity to 1.5 million tons per annum in 2017.
China now has the lowest price on imported potassium fertilizers across the world. Compared with import prices in India, Southeast Asian countries and Japan, the price of potassium fertilizer imports to China is dozens of dollars cheaper per ton.
