Sail across the sea

Chapter 490 Go and collect it.
Muyang and Maolin are neighboring provinces, and it's inevitable that they will sometimes compare themselves to each other.

Generally speaking, Maolin Province is not on the same level as Muyang Province, and it cannot compare with Muyang in most matters. However, in the matter of converting ammonium sulfate to urine, Maolin Province, due to the variable of Gao Fan, has been more proactive and has actually taken the lead over Muyang Province.

Gao Yiping, as the general manager of Maolin Fertilizer Industry Company, was quite proud when he talked about this matter.

In previous years, the supply of urea in China was generally tight, and agricultural departments in various provinces did everything they could to obtain urea.

Domestic urea comes from three main sources. First, there are over a dozen large-scale synthetic ammonia projects, each with a capacity of 30 tons per year, funded by the state. Each project is equipped with a urea production unit with an annual capacity of 48 or 52 tons. The urea produced by these large fertilizer projects is centrally allocated by the state. Of course, the provinces or regions where these projects are located receive a larger share.

Secondly, there was the import of urea, which can be divided into state-led imports and imports made by provinces and regions using their own foreign exchange reserves. In 1990, the country actually imported 780 million tons of urea, using US$10.7 billion in foreign exchange.

The third is the small and medium-sized urea projects built by various provinces and regions themselves, the most important of which is the small nitrogen fertilizer ammonium to urea conversion project that the Ministry of Chemical Industry has been vigorously promoting for several years.

One ammonium phosphate-to-urea conversion project can generate 40,000 tons of urea production capacity. Ten such projects would amount to 400,000 tons, equivalent to the production capacity of a large fertilizer plant.

Following the first phase of the ammonium to urine conversion project, the Ministry of Chemical Industry also launched the so-called "four to six" and "six to ten" projects, which aimed to increase the initial 4-ton capacity to 6 tons and 10 tons, respectively. Maolin Province is currently working on the "four to six" project.

Muyang Province initially had a somewhat negative attitude towards the ammonium-to-urine conversion project. There were many reasons for this, one of which was that the leaders of Muyang Province had some prejudice against small nitrogen fertilizers and were determined to use large-scale fertilizers. They believed that one set of large-scale fertilizers could be equivalent to more than a dozen sets of small-scale fertilizers, which would be both effective and prestigious.

However, large-scale fertilizer production is a nationally planned project, and Muyang Province applied for it for several years but failed to get approval. This delayed the transformation of small-scale fertilizer production, resulting in a significant shortage of urea supply in the province.

Two years ago, the Planning Commission of Muyang Province approached the Planning Commission of Maolin Province, requesting a batch of urea from Maolin Province. The Maolin Provincial Planning Commission inquired with the Fertilizer Industry Company, and Gao Yiping replied that the urea supply within the province was also very tight, making it impossible to allocate any to Muyang Province. The Maolin Provincial Planning Commission relayed this reply to the Muyang Provincial Planning Commission, who were naturally very displeased.

With the completion of the Fanjiawan mining-fertilizer integration project, Muyang Province suddenly increased its heavy calcium carbonate production capacity by 62 tons. The Provincial Planning Commission felt it had the power to embarrass itself, so when it sent the ceremony invitation to Maolin Fertilizer Company, it made a sarcastic remark about the open supply of phosphate fertilizer.

Today, Maolin Fertilizer Company has integrated fertilizer and pesticide production within Maolin Province. Its fertilizer division includes nitrogen fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer, and compound fertilizer. Maolin Province does indeed experience a shortage of phosphate fertilizer. In contrast, Muyang Province, with its large phosphate mines and numerous phosphate fertilizer plants, has consistently enjoyed a relatively abundant supply of phosphate fertilizer.

"Fanjiawan's designed production capacity is 62 tons of heavy calcium carbonate," Gao Fan explained to Gao Yiping.

"Triple calcium?" Gao Yiping was also taken aback. "I thought it was ammonium phosphate."

“Initially, they wanted to use diammonium phosphate, but later, due to a shortage of synthetic ammonia, they switched to superphosphate,” Gao Fan explained. He hadn't told Gao Yiping about the leaders' impulsive decisions. Gao Yiping frowned and said, “Isn't this ridiculous? Farmers prefer diammonium phosphate now. I remember seeing some data a few days ago that the country imported over 260 million tons of diammonium phosphate and only 12 tons of superphosphate the year before last. That speaks volumes. The provincial agricultural materials company also said that superphosphate simply isn't selling.”

Gao Fan smiled wryly. Unlike Gao Yiping, who specialized in the fertilizer industry, he didn't have much knowledge of fertilizer-related materials or data. He relied on his impression that the market for superphosphate was not as good as that for ammonium phosphate, and after hearing the data from Gao Yiping, he was even more convinced of this.

"If it's supercalcium carbonate, I wouldn't want it even if you gave it to me for free. I'd like to see who they end up selling it to," Gao Yiping said with a hint of schadenfreude.

"Dad, I think the provincial fertilizer company should set aside some money, just in case Fanlin goes out of business one day, so we can go and take it over," Gao Fan suggested.

His suggestion wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment thing. He had considered it before when he was in Muyang.

Fanjiawan is a large phosphate mine. Phosphorus is a very important chemical raw material, but the development of China's chemical industry is currently lagging behind, and these phosphate resources cannot be fully utilized.

Since the beginning of the new century, China's phosphorus chemical industry has experienced rapid development, leading to a continuous increase in demand for phosphorus. The lithium iron phosphate used in new energy batteries alone consumes millions of tons of phosphoric acid annually, demonstrating the vast market potential of the phosphorus chemical industry.

If Fan Lin's company were thriving, Gao Fan naturally wouldn't be interested in targeting it. His choice should be to find a way to cultivate a good relationship with Fan Lin in order to develop deeper cooperation in the future.

However, judging from Hu Dongming's account, Muyang Province made serious mistakes in the management of the Fanjiawan phosphate mine, and no one seemed to care. Such a valuable resource was being wasted in their hands, so Gao Fan inevitably started to have his own ideas.

Gao Yiping, however, did not have such ambitions. He said, "We are Maolin Fertilizer Company. How could we possibly acquire a company in Muyang? Even if Fanlin's current product selection is problematic, they will naturally know to change it after they run into difficulties. Why would they need our help?"

Gao Fan said, "Dad, that's not how it works. Who says Maolin Fertilizer Company can't expand its business outside of Maolin? After the old man's Southern Tour speech, the country's policy orientation will inevitably shift to a full-scale market economy. At that time, all kinds of administrative restrictions will be broken. Your Maolin Fertilizer Company can definitely become a large national enterprise, and then you can enjoy a vice-ministerial level treatment."

Gao Yiping was amused by Gao Fan's rosy vision. He waved his hand and said, "What vice-ministerial level? I'm only at the deputy director level today because your grandfather's grave is emitting smoke. Muyang is much more developed than Maolin. Even if they leave Fanjiawan to rot, they won't let our Maolin enterprises get involved."

"Anything is possible," Gao Fan said, not wanting to argue with his father about the topic. After all, people who hadn't experienced the market economy of later generations couldn't understand these ideas. He changed the subject and asked:

"By the way, Dad, Director Xu called me back and said he has something to discuss with me. Do you know what it is?"

(End of this chapter)