On Wednesday a second 8300 tonne export order of fertiliser from Dunedin, valued at more than $3 million and destined for Western Australia, is scheduled to leave the upper harbour aboard the ship Sheng Mu.
The order for Western Australia of "single super phosphate", which sells for $NZ396 a tonne, follows a first shipment which went out last September.
The Sheng Mu is expected to complete its 40-hour loading and be ready to sail today if rain did not disrupt loading, Ravensdown's Ravensbourne works manager, Craig Hendry, said.
"We are still developing the market at present.
"There is the potential there for manufacturing an additional 20,000 tonnes," Mr Hendry said.
Ravensdown had purchased a small co-operative in Western Australia about 18 months ago, and if more export orders are forthcoming there may be additional shipments, possibly in October and May next year, he said.
At present Ravensdown imports and manufactures four derivatives of phosphate and makes 130,000 tonnes per annum for domestic use. It also distributes a further 40,000 tonnes of ready-made phosphate imports or mixes.
Mr Hendry said the 8300 tonnes represented about three weeks' work for the manufacturer, which employs about 40 full-time staff plus contractors, and generally there was a gain for staff in extra hours available to work.
"We are basically doing it all within existing capacity; but it may mean one or two [extra] jobs overall," he said.
Ravensdown had gained the highest Level 1 certification from AQIS (Australian Quarantine Inspection Standard), so as not to export any contaminated material, such as weeds or pests, in the export orders, Mr Hendry said.
"That has been very rigorous, with a customs officer here going through a lot of protocols and checks for not getting any contamination," Mr Hendry said.
Last month Ravensdown announced it was working with the Queensland Canegrowers Association to establish a branch in the state after the growers last year paid about 30% more for their urea than Ravensdown charged.
The 4000 Queensland cane growers used about 150,000 tonnes of fertiliser a year, mainly urea and potash. While Ravensdown did not expect to capture all that market, its executives said at the time the cane growers were talking to Queensland arable land farmers and dairy farmers about also supporting a co-operative fertiliser company.
In September last year Ravensdown announced it had found the country's only onshore phosphate deposit, on a 450ha block at Clarendon, north of Milton, which it estimated could contain 34 million tonnes and if mined save New Zealand farmers $1 billion a year.
However, a basalt cap of up to 70m thick was found to be covering the largest deposit, which made mining uneconomic. Adjacent deposits were still being considered for mining, with a final decision due by the end of the year.
