IFFCO scouting for JV partners to set up fertilizer plants abroad, secure supply for India
Days after India and Russia announced an MoU to set up a 2 million tonnes capacity urea plant, Iffco — India’s largest fertilizer maker — unveiled plans to set up joint ventures in fertilizer supplying nations such as Sri Lanka and Senegal. The intent is to secure long-term sourcing of crop nutrients as access to raw materials like rock phosphate and gas at reasonable prices is becoming increasingly difficult.
Speaking with the media on November 9 in his first interaction after taking over as Iffco’s Managing Director in August, KJ Patel said: “Getting good quality raw material is increasingly becoming a challenge. For which one either has to pay more or incur higher financial burden. A better option is to set up manufacturing units in those parts of the world where these resources are available in abundance.”
Rock phosphate and phosphoric acid — critical inputs for producing DAP — are almost entirely imported as India’s rock phosphate quality is inadequate. Patel cited the example of Morocco’s OCP group, which has now stopped selling rock phosphate except to select partner companies abroad.
Morocco, which has 70 per cent of the world’s rock phosphate reserves, does not allow foreign investment in the fertilizer sector, industry officials said.
Tapping rock phosphate
In Sri Lanka, Iffco plans a joint venture for making phosphoric acid as the country has good quality rock phosphate, and ship it to India for manufacturing DAP, which contains 18 per cent nitrogen (N) and 46 per cent phosphorus (P). In Jordan, Iffco already has a joint venture – Jordan India Fertiliser Company — where it plans to double the phosphoric acid capacity from 0.5 million tonnes (mt) to 1 mt.
In Senegal, the co-operative has small stake at a urea plant, owned by Industries Chimiques du Senegal (ICS) of India’s Indo Rama group. As Iffco is looking to explore sourcing phosphate in Senegal, too, industry experts said it may need to either acquire a majority stake in ICS or find a new partner to set up another unit.
DAP is India’s second most-consumed fertilizer after urea, with annual demand of 10–-11 mt. Of this, about 5 mt are imported, while the rest is produced domestically using imported rock phosphate or phosphoric acid — both of which have seen sharp price rises over the past year.
Cost of imported phosphoric acid (CFR) has gone up to $1,153/tonne (up 22 per cent) in September 2025, while that of rock phosphate to $193/tonne from $167.
Russia’s Uralchem JSC last week signed an MoU with three Indian companies — Indian Potash (IPL), Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) and National Fertilisers (NFL) to set up a 2 mt per annum capacity urea plant in Russia with an estimated investment of about $1.2 billion (₹10,790 crore) and target to start operation in 2027-28.
The agreement was exchanged in New Delhi between Indian Ambassador in Moscow Vinay Kumar and Russian Ambassador in India Denis Alipov in the presence of prime minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin.
Published on December 10, 2025
