JPMC signs agreements worth $1.5b with Indian fertiliser companies

AMMAN — The Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) signed several agreements and memoranda of understanding with Indian companies specialising in investments in phosphate and phosphate fertilisers.

The deals aim to increase Indian companies' imports from the Kingdom and establish two factories for phosphoric acid in Al Shidiyeh and Aqaba after completing economic and technical feasibility studies over the next few months, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Sunday.

Under the signed agreements worth $1.5 billion, the JPMC provides Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) with 2 million tonnes of phosphate and 100,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid annually, and provides Indian Potash Limited (IPL) and IFFCO with 250,000 tonnes of DAP fertilisers annually.

The agreements also stipulate providing the IPL Company with some 100,000 tonnes of phosphate used for single superphosphate (SSP) industries, in addition to providing the RCF with 100,000 tonnes of phosphate annually.

JPMC Chairman Mohammed Thneibat signed the agreements in the presence of Indian Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya, Investment Minister Khairy Amr, Indian Ambassador to Jordan Anwar Haleem, JPMC CEO Abdulwahab Rawad and representatives of the companies' representatives.

Thneibat said that these agreements and MoUs reflect “the global status of the company and its success stories” in the relations between the JPMC and several Indian companies, noting that other meetings are scheduled to be organised in India to implement these deals.

The chairman added that these new partnerships with the Indian side will bring, along with investments, technical expertise to Jordan, and the company and will contribute to transferring advanced technologies in the fields of producing and manufacturing phosphate fertilisers. 

Mandaviya said that he came on a visit to Jordan with an investment delegation from several Indian companies, noting that there are projects worth over $1 billion.

He added that Jordan is a main and strategic partner to India in the field of phosphate fertilisers industry.

The minister pointed out that these agreements constitute a “qualitative addition” to the ties between the sides, pointing out that crises facing the world, mainly the food crisis, require all countries to unify their efforts and start “serious cooperation and partnerships”. 

Amr said that Jordan attaches great importance to the cooperation between the JPMC and Indian companies, expressing the ministry's appreciation for the “enthusiasm” Indian companies have demonstrated to enter into these partnerships with the JPMC.

Meanwhile, Rawad, in the presence of Haleem, signed a cooperation agreement between the JPMC with Global Steel Industries Company, under which, the former will provide 500,000 tonnes of Jordanian fertilisers over a year with a possibility to increase the amount to two million tonnes in the future.