Minister Of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo Secures Supply Of NPK Fertilizer Raw Materials

Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Syahrul Yasin Limpo. (Photo: Doc. Pupuk Indonesia)

JAKARTA - Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Syahrul Yasin Limpo continues to secure the supply of domestic fertilizer raw materials. This is done in order to maintain Indonesia's food security in the midst of the impact of Russia's war with Ukraine.

Syahrul said that the need for NPK raw materials, namely phosphate, had been secured by the collaboration between PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) and a Jordanian company, namely Jordan Phospate Mines Co. Plc (JPMC) on stabilizing the supply of phosphate or fertilizer raw materials for Indonesia. This happened when he was on a working visit to Vienna Austria to coincide with the IFA Annual Conference. The conference is attended by many of the world's fertilizer industry.

"This support for the stability of Indonesia's fertilizer supply will also have a good impact on the national food security program," said the man who is familiarly called SYL, in a written statement, quoted on Wednesday, June 1.

The Minister of Agriculture revealed that raw materials for fertilizers, such as phosphate and potassium (KCl), are raw materials that are not readily available and cannot be produced domestically. Because these two types of fertilizer raw materials are mining goods found abroad.

One of the major suppliers of these raw materials is Russia, which is currently at war with Ukraine and has declared a moratorium on exports. Therefore, he hopes that the cooperation in stabilizing fertilizer supply for Indonesia carried out between Pupuk Indonesia and JPMC can secure the availability of domestic fertilizer raw materials and meet national fertilizer needs amidst global uncertainty as a result of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the results of this meeting gave birth to a collaboration between Pupuk Indonesia and JPMC which was contained in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the President Director of Pupuk Indonesia, Bakir Pasaman, and the Chairman of JPMC, Mohammad Thneibat and witnessed by the Minister of Agriculture SYL and the Director-General of Agricultural Infrastructure of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ali Jamil in Vienna, Austria, Tuesday 31 May.

President Director of PT Pupuk Indonesia, Bakir Pasaman, expressed his appreciation for the support of the Minister of Agriculture in an effort to secure the supply of these raw materials.

"We will continue to coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture to maintain the fulfillment of domestic fertilizer needs," he said.

It should be noted that this cooperation in stabilizing fertilizer supply for Indonesia will also encourage opportunities and collaboration in three strategic areas. First, a short-term program to ensure the supply of phosphate from JPMC to Pupuk Indonesia to stabilize fertilizer supply and strengthen national food security.

Second, the medium-term program encourages JPMC to prepare an agreed price scheme to maintain the sustainability of the supply of fertilizer raw materials for Pupuk Indonesia. The third is a long-term program to establish even greater cooperation, namely the joint venture of the fertilizer industry in Indonesia.

In addition to JPMC, the Minister of Agriculture in an effort to maintain the supply of raw materials, especially the element "K" (Potash), met with the CEO of a world KCl supplier, namely Eurochem, a company registered in Switzerland and continued by PT Pupuk Indonesia by meeting with other world KCl suppliers such as Canpotex, Arab Potash Company, and Uralkali to obtain the guaranteed supply of KCl (Potash) raw materials to PT Pupuk Indonesia so that the availability of national NPK fertilizers can be guaranteed.