Jordan Phosphate Mines Co. (JPMC) has signed several agreements worth $1.5 billion with several Indian companies for the supply of phosphate rock and DAP, aimed at increasing the Jordanian producer’s phosphate exports to India, according a report by The Jordan Times, citing Jordan’s state news agency, Petra.
The deals, inked on May 15, have also paved the way for building two new plants for the production of phosphoric acid in southern Jordan at Eshidiya, the location of JPMC’s biggest mine, and at the Red Sea port of Aqaba. Economic and technical studies will be undertaken on the proposed two plants.
According to the report, the supply agreements provide for the supply of 2 million mt/y of phosphate rock and 100,000 mt/y of phosphoric acid to Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO), and 250,000 mt/y of DAP each to IFFCO and Indian Potash Ltd. (IPL).
JPMC additionally will supply IPL with 100,000 mt/y of phosphate rock used in India’s SSP industries, and also 100,000 mt/y of phosphate rock to RCF. IPL is a shareholder in JPMC, holding a 27.38% stake as of Dec. 31, 2021, according to the Jordanian company’s annual report.
JPMC and India’s Teestra Agro Industries Ltd. have also started talks to supply the Indian company with 2 million mt of phosphate rock, according to a separate report by Petra last week.
India imported 146,828 mt of DAP from Jordan in calendar 2021, making up just over 3% of its total imports of 4.68 million mt, according to Trade Data Monitor. About 26% of JPMC’s DAP exports last year went to India, according to the company’s 2021 annual report. In total, it produced 728,050 mt of DAP at its industrial complex at Aqaba last year.
In 2021, India took around 75% of JPMC’s total phosphate rock export sales, according to JPMC’s annual report. The Jordanian company produced just over 10 million mt of phosphate rock in last year and expects output to be around this level in 2022, with some 6 million mt of export sales targeted.
The latest proposals to establish joint venture phosphoric acid plants come on the heels of JPMC and Teestra signing a MOU in March to discuss building a phosphoric acid plant, and possibly a DAP plant, in Jordan. The two parties are reported to be mulling a DAP production capacity of 300,000 mt/y.
The Jordanian producer earlier that month also inked a MOU with Germany’s LUMA-International Co. to establish a phosphoric acid plant with a production capacity of 300,000 mt/y (GM April 1, p.29).
JPMC recently revealed its interest in establishing a jv fertilizer plant with Brazil, according to a report last week by the Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA), the news website of the São Paulo-based Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (GM May 13, p. 36). The proposed plant could be located either in Jordan or Brazil, he said, and would serve the Brazilian market.
JPMC Chairman Mohammad Thneibatmet met with the Brazilian Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Supply Marco Montes in the Jordanian capital of Amman on May 8.
The proposed partnerships will boost the Jordanian producer’s competitiveness in the global phosphate market and enhance its exporting capacity and sales, thus positively reflecting on its finances and ability to attract more partners, Petra reported, citing Jordanian officials.
In addition to producing phosphoric acid at its Aqaba industrial complex, JPMC also produces phosphoric acid at the Indo-Jordan Chemicals Co. (IJC) and the Jordan-India Fertilizer Co. (JIFCO). It fully owns IJC, which last year sold 303,714 mt P2O5 of acid. JIFCO is a jv with IFFCO, with JPMC owning 48% of the company. The entire output of JIFCO goes to India to IFFCO.
JPMC has been studying an expansion of phosphoric acid production capacity at its Aqaba industrial complex, and it expects to start implementing the project during the second half of this year. The project, on completion, would raise phosphoric acid production capacity by some 67% to reach 1,500 mt/d P2O5, according to the company’s annual report.
The Jordanian producer has also initiated studies to increase production capacity at IJC to reach a daily production rate of 2,000 mt/d of phosphoric acid.
JPMC currently produces phosphate ore at four mines in Jordan, the Eshidiya mine in southern Jordan as noted earlier being the largest, producing over 7 million mt of phosphate rock last year, according to the company.
JPMC is working on a phosphate ore exploration at Al Ruwaished, in Jordan’s eastern region, and the preliminary results are reported to be “promising.”
The estimated volume of phosphate reserves during the first phase of the exploration project are estimated at more than a half billion mt of phosphate suitable for manufacturing with a P2O5content ranging between 25-26%, according to a Jordan Times report last weekend, citing Jordan’s Energy Minister Saleh Al-Kharabsheh.
The project was launched last December, and this first phase of exploration was conducted over an area of 60 km2.