Saudi Arabia and India have signed a series of agreements to boost bilateral trade and investments in the chemical and fertiliser sector.
The bilateral pacts, signed during the visit of India’s minister for chemicals and fertilisers Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya to the Kingdom, were between Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) with leading Indian public sector and cooperative fertiliser companies, SPA reported.
The Indian minister also called on Bandar Alkhorayef, Saudi Arabia’s minister of industry and mineral resources on Thursday.
The two discussed means of stepping up bilateral cooperation in a number of areas, including chemical, fertiliser and pharmaceutical industries.
The MoUs included one with the state-owned Indian Potash Company Limited to supply phosphate products, another with Gujarat State fertilisers & Chemicals Limited for supply of ammonia and one each with Krishak Bharati Cooperative Company Limited and Coromandel International Limited respectively for supply phosphate products and ammonia.
The agreements with the cooperative sector fertiliser companies also envisage exploring collaboration in multiple growth areas and to pursue joint development of technology for specialty products, product development, agronomy and logistics solutions.
The agreements seek to double Ma’aden’s exports of phosphate products and ammonia to India starting in 2023, with plans to explore product and technology development collaboration for phosphate fertilisers.
Ma’aden chief executive officer Robert Wilt said due to the close geographical proximity between the two countries, the Saudi company was a natural partner for the Indian market.
“India is the largest import market for phosphate and ammonia in the world, with steadily increasing demand. We first started exporting fertilisers to India in 2011 and today we export about 1.7 million tonnes of phosphate products and ammonia to the Indian market annually,” Wilt said.
Wilt said Ma’aden opened its first office in India in May 2020 to reinforce its commitment to the country and be closer to the customers.
“As a leading global phosphate fertiliser producer and the largest phosphate fertiliser supplier to India, India is a strategically important market for Ma’aden. We aim to continue to invest in strengthening our relationship with Indian companies,” the Ma’aden CEO said.
He said the new agreements would also help expand the company’s role in global food security.
Ma’aden’s mine-to-market phosphate business consists of two mega plants in Saudi Arabia – one in Wa’ad Al Shamal industrial minerals city in the Northern Borders province and the other in Ras Al Khair industrial city on the east coast.
Ma’aden is developing a third large-scale phosphate project called ‘Phosphate 3’, which aims to increase the company’s phosphate fertiliser supply capacity by 3 million tonnes to reach 9 million tonnes production capacity over the coming years.
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