After deadly explosion in Beirut, ammonium nitrate fertiliser under regulatory scrutiny again

For many reasons other than regulation, farmers have switching to using urea over ammonium nitrate over the years, analysts say. Widely used and produced The world’s annual production of ammonium nitrate is over 20 million tonnes, which means the amount that exploded in Beirut is made almost every hour.Storing hundreds or even thousands of tonnes in the same place is frequent, and a single farmer can easily use several tonnes a year. “Even small storages of ammonium nitrate fertilisers, defined as low as 10 tonnes in some legislations, may place the population at high risk if proper safety measures and procedures are not fully in place,” the memo said. Stricter regulation According to the IHS, “there is continuous pressure around the world to regulate use and trade of ammonium nitrate because of its potential for misuse as an explosive in terrorism or for accidental detonation.” The organization also said that countries including Afghanistan, China, Colombia, the Philippines, and Turkey “have banned the sale of ammonium nitrate as a fertiliser”. Ammonium nitrate, which is widely available and cheap, has often been used in bomb attacks.Two tonnes of the product, combined with gasoline, was enough for American extremist Timothy McVeigh to damage several housing blocks in Oklahoma City in 1995, and kill 168 people.