Grupa Azoty, the second-largest producer of mineral fertilizers in the EU wants to open a factory in Kenya. Currently, Kenya uses 650 metric tons of imported artificial fertilizers every year, but it only uses 7 kg of these fertilizers for 1 ha per year, less than 1 percent of what is used in other countries, such as China.

Meanwhile, the demand for fertilizers for the whole African continent is growing by 2 percent every year, according to data published by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

Preliminary talks with the Kenyan government started last year 2012 but are far from completion. Grupa Azoty is currently in the finishing stages of a consolidation process with another Polish chemical giant – Zakłady Azotowe Puławy and right now that is their priority.

Both companies are also planning to build a factory in China which would produce carpoloctam, an organic compound used in creating products requiring strong materials. If built, the factory would produce at least 120,000 tons of the compound per year.

That project, however, is also still in the developmental stage. “We are ready from a technological standpoint, but we are still looking for business partners and a location for this project,” said Jerzy Marciniak, CEO of Grupa Azoty.

JC