CHAPTER 2 THE FERTILIZER SITUATION

Fertilizer consumption

Low domestic production of fertilizers and imports limited by scarce foreign exchange have restricted the availability and consumption of fertilizers. Consumption has fallen considerably compared with pre-1990 years. Fertilizer consumption from 1997 to 2000 is shown in Table 1.

Fertilizer consumption in the various provinces is shown in Table 2. North Pyongan, South Hwanghae, South Pyongan, North Hwanghae, South Hamgyong and Kangwon are the major fertilizer consuming provinces.

The average consumption of fertilizers per ha for the two major crops of DPR Korea, main crop rice and maize, in the various provinces is shown in Tables 3 and 4.

Average fertilizer consumption by both the crops is well below the recommended rates for obtaining high yields.

Fertilizer recommendations for spring barley and wheat, as determined by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences (AAS), are given in Table 5.

Fertilizer supplies

Domestic fertilizer nitrogen and phosphate requirements were met previously by the national fertilizer industry. However, the shortage of foreign exchange to buy the required feedstock and the raw materials has put constraints on domestic fertilizer production. Installed capacities have been affected also by technological obsolescence, ageing plants, difficulties in the replacement of old equipment and the provision of spares.

Table 1 Fertilizer consumption in DPR Korea ('000 MT)
Year	N	P₂0₅	K₂O
1997	127.7	24.6	22.8
1998	92.8	18.2	7.2
1999	134.0	24.9	28.0
2000	110.9	19.9	32.3

Table 2 Fertilizer consumption by province ('000 MT)
Province	Averages 1998 to 2000
Province	N	P₂O₅	K₂O	Total
Pyongyang	6	1	2	8
South Pyongan	16	3	3	22
North Pyongan	21	4	4	29
Jagang	5	1	1	7
South Hwanghae	22	6	5	34
North Hwanghae	10	2	3	15
Kangwon	8	1	1	10
South Hamgyong	11	1	2	14
North Hamgyong	6	1	1	7
Ryanggong	2	0.2	0.5	3
Kaesong	2	0.4	0.5	3
Nampo	3	0.5	1	5
Total	112	21	23	157

Table 3 Plant nutrient consumption by rice by province, averages 1998 to 2000 (kg/ha)
Province	N	P₂O₅	K₂O	Total
Pyongyang	100	16	2	118
South Pyongan	87	14	3	104
North Pyongan	96	16	4	116
Jagang	76	11	1	88
South Hwanghae	90	21	5	116
North Hwanghae	72	15	3	90
Kangwon	82	11	1	94
South Hamgyong	80	8	2	90
North Hamgyong	83	7	1	91
Ryanggong	50	0	0,5	51
Kaesong	78	20	0,5	98
Nampo	80	19	1	100
Average	81	13	2	96

Table 4 Plant nutrient consumption by maize by province, averages 1998 to 2000 (kg/ha)
Province	N	P₂O₅	K₂O	Total
Pyongyang	66	15	16	97
South Pyongan	61	14	14	89
North Pyongan	64	14	17	95
Jagang	67	13	10	90
South Hwanghae	65	18	19	101
North Hwanghae	50	13	14	76
Kangwon	56	9	5	70
South Hamgyong	54	11	11	76
North Hamgyong	51	9	6	67
Ryanggong	68	5	5	78
Kaesong	66	16	15	97
Nampo	71	17	16	104
Average	58	12	11	81

Table 5 Fertilizer recommendations for spring barley and wheat
Nutrient	Rate (kg/ha)	Timing

Nitrogen	100	Split application at basal, tillering and panicle initiation stages with 50%, 20% and 30% respectively.
Phosphorus	30	Basal Application
Potash	30	Basal Application

Nitrogenous fertilizers are produced at three major units, located at Hungnam, Namhueng and Undok County. Urea, ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulphate are the three main types of fertilizer produced by these units. Urea plants located at Namhueng and Hungnam use naphtha and coal as feedstock. Ammonium nitrate production at Hungnam is based on water electrolysis. The July 7 Complex at Undok county uses fuel oil as feedstock. The production capacity of the units is given in Table 6. The capacity utilization of these plants is low.

Table 6 Nitrogen fertilizer production units and their capacities
Production Unit	Product	Capacity '000 MT
		Product	N
Hungnam	Urea	170	78
	Amm. nitrate	180	61
	Amm. sulphate	170	35
Namhueng	Urea	360	161
	Amm. sulphate	4	0.8
July 7 Chemical Complex, Undok	Amm. nitrate	80	27

Single superphosphate (SSP) is produced domestically. Low-grade rock phosphate reserves are mined at several locations. Sulphuric acid requirements are met through imports. Some quantities are also available through fractionation of crude naphtha at the refineries.

DPR Korea has no known reserves of potash and depends on imports to meet its potash requirements.

Domestic fertilizer production in 1998/99 and 1999/2000 is given in Table 7.

Table 8 shows the availability of total fertilizer nutrients from different sources and Table 9 the individual nutrients from different sources.

It can be seen from these tables that humanitarian assistance has played a significant role in providing the support for the agricultural production programme.

There was a substantial decrease in fertilizer availability from domestic production during the year 1999/2000 (July to August) compared with the previous year. The imports also were also lower. Although availability through humanitarian assistance improved compared with the previous year, it was not sufficient to fill the overall gap.

Table 7 Domestic production of fertilizers ('000 MT nutrients)
Year	N	P₂O₅	K₂O	Total
1998/99	79.6	4.4	9.0	93.0
1999/2000	33.2	0.8	3.5	37.5

Table 8 Total fertilizer nutrient availability in DPR Korea ('000 MT)
Source/Year	1998/99	1999/2000	2000/01*
Production & imports	115 (51%)	45 (27%)	24 (15%)
Humanitarian assistance	110 (49%)	121 (71%)	130 (82%)
Carry over	0	4 (2%)	6 (4%)
Total	225	170	160
* 2000/2001: fi gures for ten months.

Table 9 N, P₂O₅ and K₂O availability in DPR Korea 1999/2000 ('000 MT)
Item	N	P₂O₅	K₂O	Total
Domestic production	33.2	0.8	3.5*	37.5
Imports	7.8	nil	nil	7.8
Humanitarian assistance	79.8	18.9	22.5	121.2
Carried over from 1999	3.6	nil	nil	3.6
Application in agriculture	111.0	20.0	27.0	158
Stocks (as of September 2000)	3.2	0.5	0.2	3.9
* Manufactured from imported material Source: MOA, DPR Korea.

Figure 3 Fertilizer supplies from different sources, 1999/2000 ('000 tonnes of nutrients)