Are phosphate rock resources scarce?

Phosphate rock refers to the general term for economically available phosphate minerals. It is mainly used in industry to produce phosphorus fertilizers. It can also be used to make yellow phosphorus, phosphoric acid, phosphide and other phosphoric acids. Salt products. These products are widely used in agricultural production, medicine, food, light industry, chemical industry, national defense and other industrial sectors. Phosphate rock is non-renewable. Phosphate rock resources have a long history of origin and extremely complex mineralization conditions, so the regeneration of phosphate rock is almost impossible. Once phosphate rock resources are developed and utilized, phosphorus is dispersed into nature along with the consumption of downstream processed products and cannot be recycled. Many countries have listed phosphate rock resources as strategic resources. The content of phosphorus in the earth's crust is very high, but phosphorus resources with industrial mining value are very limited in the world. According to statistics from the United States Geological Survey, the world's economic reserves of phosphate rock are 18 billion tons, and the basic reserves are 50 billion tons (economic reserves refer to Phosphate ore with a mining cost of less than US$35/ton (basic reserves refer to phosphate rock with a mining cost of less than US$100/ton), more than 80% of which are concentrated in Morocco, the United States, South Africa, Jordan and China. In terms of basic reserves, Morocco ranks first, China ranks second, and the United States ranks third. The main producing countries are the United States, Morocco, China and Russia, and the output of the four countries accounts for approximately 67.6% of the total output. Therefore, judging from the geographical distribution of phosphorus resources around the world, population concentration, degree of economic development and demand for phosphorus resources, phosphorus resources are somewhat scarce. Phosphate rock is a resource product. Out of the need to protect domestic resources, various countries have introduced relevant policies to restrict the export of initial product phosphate rock. The phosphorus chemical industry has a large demand for phosphate rock, and the international supply and demand of phosphate rock will tighten in the future.

Approximately 75 million new people are added to the world every year. This part of the population is mainly in developing countries. Population growth will inevitably bring about an increase in demand for food, especially with the two largest developments in China and India. With the rise of China's most populous country, the proportion of national food consumption continues to increase, and the proportion of vegetables and fruits in food has increased significantly. The rising consumption levels of developing countries represented by China and India will inevitably drive the demand for upstream fertilizers. Phosphate fertilizer, as one of the three major fertilizers required for crop growth, will surely grow as the demand for chemical fertilizers increases. Since there is a reasonable ratio in the application of the three major fertilizers for crops, the growth of phosphate fertilizers will be promoted along with the growth of the entire chemical fertilizers. In 2010, the European continent suffered from historically rare hot weather. Drought led to a decline in agricultural production in Russia, Ukraine and other Eastern European countries and many EU countries. The reduction in production is expected to reach 30%, with Russia the most serious. Russia has announced a suspension of grain exports. . The International Grains Council released a report in August. Due to the disaster-affected wheat production in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the expected global cereal production in 2010/2011 was 1.753 billion tons, and the supply gap rose to 21 million tons. The decline in global agricultural production caused by disasters will surely stimulate investment in chemical fertilizers. Natural disasters have occurred frequently in our country this year, and disasters have hit many major grain-producing areas. The central government has requested the implementation of special funds to subsidize the supply of agricultural materials. The focus is to increase subsidies for chemical fertilizers to achieve the goal of increasing crop fertility, promoting early maturation, and preventing diseases and pests. The rise in international phosphate fertilizer prices in the third quarter of 2010 directly led to an overall increase in the profits of the domestic phosphorus chemical industry. Domestic exports of phosphate fertilizers increased significantly in the off-season, which alleviated domestic supply pressure; the advantages of domestic thermal phosphoric acid were reflected, the price of yellow phosphorus continued to rise, and the export of food-grade phosphoric acid increased. It is expected that the global phosphate fertilizer industry will maintain a high operating rate from 2011 to 2013, and the domestic phosphorus chemical industry will continue to prosper.

List of listed companies in phosphate rock resources:

1 Chengxing Co., Ltd. (600078): The company is the largest manufacturer and exporter of fine phosphorus chemical products in China. Although it has recoverable reserves of 130 million tons of phosphate rock in Xuanwei and Maitre, Yunnan, Chengxing Co., Ltd. has not fully exploited it, and the total self-sufficiency rate is only 30%. However, this has not affected the company's production stability and gross profit margin of related products.

2 Xingfa Group (600141): As one of the largest phosphorus chemical companies in China, the company currently has 130 million tons of phosphate rock reserves and an annual phosphate rock production capacity of 1.5 million tons. The company is self-sufficient in phosphate rock. The rate is less than 50%. With a power generation capacity of 100,000 kilowatts, the company's power supply self-sufficiency rate reaches 50%. Sufficient phosphate rock resources and the integration of phosphate and electricity mines are the company's greatest competitive advantages for long-term development.

3 ST Malong (600792): 20 million tons of phosphate rock resources.

4 Liuguo Chemical (600470): Currently has more than 20 million tons of phosphate ore that can be mined.

5 Hubei Yihua (000422): The company has about 100 million tons of phosphate rock resource reserves, which can meet the needs of phosphate fertilizer production.

6 Yuntianhua (600096): Yuntianhua Group is the chemical company with the richest scarce resources. Its phosphate rock resources that have obtained mining licenses are 500-600 million tons, and its long-term reserves exceed 1.5 billion tons; Subsidiary Zhongliao Mining owns 850 million tons of potash resources in Laos; the group and its listed companies own 900 million tons of coal resources.

Leading stocks of listed companies with phosphate rock resources:

Liuguo Chemical (600470):

The company is mainly engaged in the production and sales of high-concentration phosphate compound fertilizers. Its main products It is diammonium phosphate, a high-concentration compound fertilizer. It is a large-scale phosphate fertilizer manufacturer in China. The company currently has a total phosphate fertilizer production capacity of 1.12 million tons.

The company adopts a "stationary direct sales" marketing model, which basically covers the entire domestic market. The company is vigorously promoting the integration strategy, striving to achieve industrial upgrading and product structure adjustment, and improve profitability. Expand mineral resources upstream and build ammonia synthesis equipment to solve raw material bottlenecks; extend the industrial chain downstream and plan and implement wet purification phosphoric acid and fine phosphate projects. At present, the company's industrial chain extension will enter the harvest period. After Susong Phosphate Mine reaches full capacity, it will produce 382,500 tons of 32% grade phosphate concentrate (P2O5) per year, 50,000 tons/year of industrial-grade wet phosphoric acid purification and 30,000 tons/year of industrial The monoammonium phosphate project is expected to be completed within this year; the 280,000-ton synthetic ammonia project will be completed in 2012; a battery-grade phosphate production technology research and development center has been established jointly with Sichuan University ***, and the lithium iron phosphate project is in the experimental stage. Based on the fertilizer industry, the company aims to expand and strengthen downstream industries such as phosphorus chemicals; it will gradually achieve complete self-sufficiency in the three major raw materials (phosphate rock, sulfuric acid, and synthetic ammonia), and the profitability of the fertilizer business will reach a higher level in the same industry; it will extend to the downstream The industrial chain will bring broad room for growth to the company. It is expected that the compound growth rate of net profit from 2010 to 2012 will be around 10%, corresponding to a price-to-earnings ratio of around 32 times. Liuguo Chemical signed the "Technical Research, Production and Application Development Contract for Iron Phosphate and Lithium Iron Phosphate" with Sichuan University. Sichuan University is responsible for researching and developing the production process of iron phosphate and lithium iron phosphate products, solving the technical problems encountered in the industrialization of using this process for Liuguo Chemical, realizing the continuous, stable and up-to-standard production of process technology in production equipment, and providing products Process technology solutions and production line design solutions. The two parties plan to jointly establish a battery-grade phosphate production technology research and development center. Liuguo Chemical provided 3.6 million yuan in project research funding, and Sichuan University accepted the entrustment to complete it. The initial cooperation performance time proposed by both parties is 2 years.

The technical leader of this cooperation project between Liuguo Chemical Industry and Sichuan University is none other than Zhong Ben, a leading figure in the field of domestic phosphorus chemical industry - Zhong Ben, who has long studied phosphoric acid, phosphate compound fertilizer, phosphorus chemical industry and environmental engineering. and professor. In recent years, the Sichuan University scientific research team led by Zhong Benhe has made great progress in the wet phosphoric acid purification route. At present, there are many domestic companies producing cathode materials, but most of them are lithium cobalt oxide and lithium manganate. Lithium iron phosphate is cheap, has high safety and stability, and has excellent cycle function. It is an ideal material for the new generation of lithium batteries and will be used in the future. It has become the leading product of cathode materials in my country and has broad application prospects in the fields of power batteries and backup power supplies. In the lithium battery industry chain, cathode materials have the largest market capacity and the highest added value. Lithium iron phosphate can account for more than 40% of the cost of lithium batteries.