JINCHANG, Nov 06, 2007 (SinoCast via COMTEX) -- SNFRF | charts | news | PowerRating -- China's largest fertilizer importer Sinofert Holdings Ltd. (SEHK: 0297) has signed an agreement to purchase a 30 percent stake in Gansu Wengfu Chemical Co., Ltd., the biggest phosphate fertilizer producer in Northwestern China.

Sinofert Chairman Xu Keping told journalists that they hoped to join hands with Guizhou Wengfu and Gansu Chemical and make use of their own advantages to set up the biggest phosphate fertilizer project in Northwestern China.

The northwestern regions, the country's important agricultural areas, have been a major consumption of chemical fertilizers, especially phosphate fertilizer, the chairman stressed.

Guizhou Wengfu is one of the country's largest phosphate fertilizer producers, its chairman He Haoming said, and Sinofert is the country's biggest comprehensive chemical fertilizer.

The fresh cooperation will further their strategic partnership and enable them to contribute more to the sustainable development of the Chinese chemical fertilizer industry, in particular of the phosphate fertilizer sector, the chairman predicted.

Wengfu Chemical, formed in November 2006, owns an 800,000- ton ore-dressing project and is capable of turning out 180,000- ton diammonium phosphate a year.

This June, the company invested to build a phosphoric acid project with a yearly production of 100,000 tons and the second phase upgrading project with a designed diammonium phosphate output of 240,000 tons annually.

After the projects are finished, it is expected to have a total diammonium phosphate production capacity of 420,000 tons and reach an annual production value of CNY 800 million, ranking first among phosphate fertilizer producers in Northwestern China.

In recent years, Sinofert, previously known as Sinochem Hong Kong Holdings Ltd., has been extending its reach in Mainland China. Last year, the Hong Kong-listed company bought into Shandong Luxi Chemical Co., Ltd. (SZSE: 000830) and Shandong Hualu-Hengsheng Chemical Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 600426).

For the moment, Sinofert has become Luxi Chemical's third largest shareholder with a stake of 4.78 percent or 50 million restricted shares, and Hualu-Hengsheng Chemical's second largest shareholder with 15 million restricted shares, accounting for 4.54 percent of its capital stock.

Earlier this year, it invested in Henan Xinlianxin Fertiliser Limited Company. On October 17, it obtained from its effective controller Sinochem Corp. 18.49 percent shares of Qinghai Salt Lake Potash Co., Ltd. (SZSE: 000792).

Additionally, Sinofert has hungered for an A-share listing for long and will apply once some regualtions come out, its general manager Du Keping said.