Page 13 - DMEA Week 01 2023

DMEA PETROCHEMICALS DMEA

Zagros Petrochemical’s new unit will come on stream within 36 months (Photo: Shana)
“With the signing of this contract, the first signing ceremony for the agreement.
300,000-tonne plant for converting methanol With the project, Zagros Petrochemical can
to synthetic ethanol in the country will come complete its methanol downstream chain and
on stream within 36 months, and Zagros Pet- create value-added from the chemical.
rochemical Company will take a major step to Synthetic ethanol has many applications. It
complete the value chain and move towards is, for instance, used as a raw material in viscose.
converting methanol to synthetic ethanol for On an industrial scale, methanol is predom-
the first time in the country’s petrochemical inantly produced from natural gas by reforming
industry,” Matin Didari, CEO of Zagros Petro- gas with steam and then converting and distill-
chemical, was across this week quoted as saying ing the resulting synthesised gas mixture to cre-
by several Iranian media outlets following the ate pure methanol. ™

UN official: Malawi set to take delivery

of 200,000 tonnes of Russian fertiliser

AFRICA A shipment of 200,000 tonnes of Russian fertil- Dujarric, the Nyasa Times reported on Janu-
iser dispatched from a Dutch port is expected to ary 1, said that the UN welcomed the donation
land in Mozambique soon ahead of its onward of 260,000 tonnes of fertiliser from Russian
delivery to neighbouring Malawi. producers stored in some European ports and
A Malawian daily, Nyasa Times, quoted UN warehouses.
spokesperson Stephane Dujarric as saying that The donation, he said, will serve to alleviate
the humanitarian package “will be the first of humanitarian needs and prevent catastrophic
a series of shipments of fertiliser destined for a crop loss in Africa.
number of other countries on the African conti- “Reconnecting fertiliser markets is a critical
nent in the coming months.” step to ensure global food security for 2023, and
The tonnage is part of a larger consignment of the United Nations will continue to make every
Russian fertiliser that had been held in Europe. effort, with all parties, to achieve this goal,” he
While the farm input is not among products said.
sanctioned by the bloc over Russia’s February Malawi is implementing a farm input pro-
2022 invasion of Ukraine, risks linked to the gramme to help less-privileged farmers access
fighting have seen shipowners shunning some the commodity with a heavy subsidy.
consignments from Moscow due to a lack of The market price of a 50kg bag of fertilizer,
insurers, according to the French news agency according to the Nyasa Times, ranges from
AFP. As a result, Russia agreed in November MWK65,000 (about $63) to MWK90,000 ($93)
2022 to donate the fertiliser to some African but with the programme, poor farmers may pur-
countries, including Malawi. chase a bag for MWK15,000 ($15). ™

Week 01 05•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P13