Australian manufacturer CSBP has shut down its 90,000-100,000 t/yr superphosphate (SSP) manufacturing plant in Kwinana, and will switch to an import model going forward.
The company said the plant is going into "care and maintenance", and the facility will be repurposed to increase CSBP's storage capacity. CSBP is the fertilizer division of WesCEF, a subsidiary of Western Australia (WA)-based conglomerate Wesfarmers subsidiary.
CSBP said the decision was made because of a "long-term decline in market demand for SSP as growers continue to reduce livestock numbers, combined with increasing competition from overseas suppliers and rising operational and raw material costs, including sulphuric acid."
Sulphuric acid has become increasingly expensive because of production curtailments in the WA nickel industry, which meant it needs to be imported. A market participant estimated the closure of the SSP plant will result in sulphuric acid imports falling by 50,000-60,000 t/yr.
"Choosing the care and maintenance option gave the business the flexibility to recommence operations in the future, if market conditions change," said CSBP Fertilisers' general manager Ryan Lamp. But market participants think a reopening of the plant is highly unlikely, considering much cheaper SSP imports are available, principally from China.
CSBP's fertilizer sales rose by 31pc to 396,000t in the first half of the July 2024-June 2025 financial year compared with a year earlier, according to the company's half-year presentation.
One SSP plant remains
Australian chemicals and fertilizer producer Incitec Pivot also recently announced it would cease manufacturing SSP at its 350,000-400,000 t/yr plant at Geelong by the end of this year.
This will leave Ameropa's 150,000-200,000t/yr facility in Hobart, Tasmania as the last operational SSP plant across the Oceania region. Market participants think the closure of CSBP's and IPL's plants will spell trouble for Ameropa's plant, which likely makes SSP swaps with IPL from time to time.
