By A.R.
25 January 2006

Zakłady Azotowe Puławy SA (ZAP) nitrogen works has signed a long-term melamine distribution contract with Comexport, a company active on the South American market. Later this quarter, melamine from Puławy will reach Brazil, which until now was chiefly interested in Puławy's fertilizer: ammonium sulfate.

"South America is a new element of our global melamine market participation," said Zygmunt Kwiatkowski, president of ZAP. "As the third-largest producer of melamine in the world, we want to have direct contact with the fastest-growing markets." The South American market is growing at a rate of almost 6 percent a year, and the total melamine production of the Americas is smaller than that of ZAP. Melamine consumption on these markets is estimated at around 120,000 tonnes annually.

Melamine is ZAP's strategic product. In partnership with Eurotecnica, the company is carrying out a unique project for the recovery of melamine (Melamine Recovery Unit). The project will enable the plant to increase its manufacturing capacity by more than 4,000 tonnes a year (to about 96,000 tonnes of melamine per year). ZAP is the only producer of melamine in Poland and the third-largest in the world. The top two melamine manufacturers around the world are DSM Melamine and Agrolinz Melamine International. Melamine is also produced by BASF, Nissan Chemical and Mitsui Toatsu Chemical. The current nominal production capacity of ZAP is 92,000 tonnes per year, accounting for about 10 percent of the global melamine market and around 20 percent of the European market.

Over the past two decades, global melamine consumption has doubled. The projected growth of the melamine market in the next five years is 5.7 percent. The growing demand for this product is primarily due to the developing production of laminates and other applications, including the use of melamine in the automotive industry.

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