Incitec Pivot Limited has quickly mobilised expert teams to work on expanding its manufacturing capability and increase Australia’s supply of AdBlue – an essential product to keep diesel vehicles moving.
Working closely with the Federal Government, IPL has committed to undertake a manufacturing assessment to produce technical grade urea and expand AdBlue production at its Gibson Island plant in Brisbane.
The planned increase in production will not impact the supply of fertiliser grade urea for Australian farmers, following IPL successfully securing supply for the agricultural market.
Incitec Pivot Limited MD & CEO Jeanne Johns said: “Our expert teams have been working around-the-clock on a solution to help address an Australian AdBlue supply shortage.
“We’re very pleased our domestic manufacturing expertise can be mobilised and we’re working together with the Federal Government to expand supply of this critical material that we all rely on to keep Australia moving.
“We’ve had great support from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Industry Minister Angus Taylor and the Federal Department of Industry. We will continue to work closely together as we progress our manufacturing assessment and next steps to expand AdBlue supply and technical grade urea production for the AdBlue industry.
“Importantly, our plans to expand production will not impact on the supply of fertilisers which our Australian farmers are relying on,” Ms Johns said.
With the support of key partners including IOR, IPL is working quickly to build additional storage capacity to support the supply chain and customers.
“COVID highlighted the importance of Australian manufacturing and we are proud to play our part in securing domestic supply chains,” Ms Johns said.
IPL’s Brisbane Gibson island plant produces fertiliser products, along with industrial chemicals for the domestic market. While most of the urea produced is fertiliser grade used by Australian farmers, a small portion is used to make AdBlue solution, supplying around 10 per cent of the Australian market. The remainder AdBlue market is reliant on international imports which have been disrupted over the last few months.