Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 8
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran plans to supply 2.305 million tons of various fertilizers during the current fiscal year, started March 2017.
According to the Iranian officials, the figure will include 1.5 million tons of nitrogen, 525,000 tons of potassium and 280,000 tons of phosphorus fertilizers.
Hamid Rasouli, managing director of the state-run Agricultural Support Services Company(ASSC) told reporters in Tehran that the company has purchased 1.9 million tons of various fertilizers during the current year, of which 1.6 million ton is supplied to farmers so far.
ASSC is a public company under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and is tasked with procurement, production and distribution of agricultural raw materials in Iran.
Rasouli said that domestic production will account for over 80 percent of the procured fertilizers by the company during the current fiscal year.
During the last fiscal year (March 2016-2017) the company supplied 1.8 million tons of various fertilizers last fiscal year, of which 1.5 million tons was purchased from domestic producers.
Rasouli noted that strategic reserves of three types of fertilizers (nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus) stands at 300,000 tons, adding that the reserves will meet the cultivation demand in spring 2018.
China was the main supplier of Iran’s imported fertilizer in the current year, however companies from Netherlands, Germany, Bulgaria, Lebanon also took part in ASSC tenders for fertilizer purchase, the official said.
According to the Islamic Republic’s agriculture ministry data, Iran imported 233,576.6 tons of various fertilizers, worth $141.372 million in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, registering 47.8 percent rise in terms of volume and 16.9 percent increase in terms of value, respectively, year-on-year.
The Islamic Republic imported 66,722.8 tons of phosphorus fertilizers (2,737 percent more), worth $23.24 million (947 percent increase) in the 9-month period.
The country also imported 98,553.3 tons (4.5 percent more) of phosphorus fertilizers, worth 54.294 million (6.6 percent increase) in the period.
The latest official statistics released by industry ministry indicate that Iran’s urea production during the first eight months of current fiscal year (March-Nov. 2017), has registered a slight rise by 5.5 percent to 3.527 million tons.
Iran’s urea production capacity is planed to reach 14.7 million tons by 2022, under the sixth five-year economic development plan from the current level of 5 million tons.