the national science and technology award conference was held on jan 10 in beijing. during the conference, the 1.2-million-ton potassium sulphate packaged technology at lop nor salt lake developed by the changsha and lehigh institutes won first place at the national scientific progress awards. the award was another breakthrough by bluestar after its sylvite resources development and utilization at lop nor won first place in the national scientific progress awards in 2005.
china is a large agricultural country, raising 20 percent of the world's population with 9 percent of arable land. therefore, it's important to improve unit yield. china is the second biggest potash consumer in the world, and in severe shortage of potassium, forcing it to import more than 6 million tons of potassium every year. the world's potash resources and potash market are monopolized by a few foreign companies, so the domestic potash supply has been held over a barrel for a long time, directly endangering china's food security.
the packaged technology development is the most significant of its kind worldwide. it will increase china’s strength in the world’s fertilizer market, said wei yeqiu, head of the changsha institute.