TEHRAN – Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry and the country’s Agriculture Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Thursday for cooperation on the production of phosphoric acid and phosphate fertilizers, ISNA reported.

The MOU was signed in a ceremony attended by the Acting Industry Minister Jafar Sarqeini, the Agriculture Minister Kazem Khavazi, Head of National Iranian Copper Industry Company (NICIC) Ardeshir Sa’d Mohammadi, and the Head of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) Khodadad Gharibpour.

This memorandum is aimed to create self-sufficiency in the production of phosphoric acid and phosphate chemical fertilizers while supporting domestic production and cut dependence on imports.

Based on the MOU, NICIC is going to produce the mentioned fertilizers and the Agricultural Support Services Company (ASSC), will make a guaranteed purchase of the fertilizer produced by the National Copper Company to provide the high-quality product to the country’s farmers.

Speaking in the signing ceremony, Sa’d Mohammadi said that the NICIC will invest 250 million euros to build the phosphoric acid and phosphate fertilizer plants.

"The amount of investment required for the phosphoric acid production plant is 100 million euros and the amount of investment for the phosphate fertilizer production plant is about 150 million euros, so a total of 250 million euros will be invested in this field by the National Iranian Copper Industries Company,” he said.

According to the official, phosphoric acid is currently priced at $650 per ton in the global markets and phosphate fertilizers such as DAP are priced at around $350 per ton; Therefore, the construction of these factories will provide about 1.5 million tons of fertilizers, which were previously supplied through imports, to the farmers and prevents the outflow of hundreds of millions of dollars from the country.

EF/MA