DOHA: Qafco yesterday inked two separate long-term deals with prominent Indian fertilizer companies to supply fixed quantities of anhydrous ammonia. The deals were signed in the presence of H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry.
The agreements were signed by Khalifa Abdulla Al Sowaidi, Qafco, Vice-Chairman and CEO, and Kapil Mehan, Managing Director, Coromandel International, and Sunil Gupta, Vice-President, Paradeep Phosphates Limited (PPL), on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Qafco-5 plant at Mesaieed Industrial City yesterday.
Under the agreements Qafco will supply 150,000 metric tonnes and an optional quantity of 50,000 metric tonnes of anhydrous Ammonia to Coromandel International, and 100,000 metric tones to PPL annually.
Yousef Al Kuwari, Qafco, Chief Marketing Officer, Ali Al Sanadi, Qafco Ammonia Sales Manager, and Harish Malhotra, Senior Vice-President and Head of Commercial, Coromandel International, attended the event. Also present were V S Sahney and Masood Ahmed from Coromandel International.
"This is a long-term agreement with Qafco for the purchase of ammonia which will be renewed every year. We already have an arrangement for the purchase of urea with the company. And ammonia will also now add to the basket", Kapil Mehan told The Peninsula on the sidelines of the press conference.
Coromandel is an Indian company owned by the Murugappa group. It is one of the leading manufacturers of phosphatic fertilisers with plants located at Visakhapatnam and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and Ennore and Ranipet in Tamil Nadu.
And Paradeep Phosphates Limited is also an India based company engaged in the fertilizer manufacturing and marketing of complex phosphatic fertilizers.
The company was initially commissioned as a joint venture between Government of India and Republic of Nauru and subsequently, in 1993 it was changed into a wholly owned Government of India enterprise.
However, after the disinvestment by Government of India in February 2002, the management of the company is presently with the fertilizer majors - Zuari-Chambal Group and OCP of Morocco.
© The Peninsula 2011
