CSBP Fertilisers today announced that it will place its Superphosphate (SSP) Manufacturing Plant, located at its Kwinana facility south of Perth, into care and maintenance.

The decision comes as a result of long-term decline in market demand for SSP as growers continue to reduce livestock numbers (particularly sheep), combined with increasing competition from overseas suppliers and rising operational and raw material costs, including sulfuric acid.

SSP is used primarily as a fertiliser for pastures for livestock, with its balance of sulfur and phosphorus helping to redress nutrient poor soils.

General Manager CSBP Fertilisers Ryan Lamp said choosing the care and maintenance option gave the business the flexibility to recommence operations in the future, if market conditions change.

“We will continue to support Western Australian growers by importing SSP, and repurposing the facility to increase CSBP’s storage capacity will enable us to offer greater supply reliability across our solid fertiliser products,” he said.

“Fertilisers, such as Flexi-N, will still be manufactured at our Kwinana, Esperance, and Geraldton facilities, as well as cropping fertilisers in our Kwinana granulation plant.”

Mr Lamp said the cost of raw material inputs to domestic SSP production had increased significantly as a result of production curtailments in the Western Australian nickel industry.

“Until recently, sulfuric acid, which is a critical input to the SSP production process, was supplied to the Western Australian market as a by-product of the nickel refining process. The additional cost of securing imported acid has adversely affected the plant’s production costs, while market demand for SSP has declined,” he said.

CSBP will work closely with a small number of affected employees to provide redeployment opportunities, career advice, job search and counselling support, as it transitions over the coming months to care and maintenance.