The determination of Fertilizer Association of India in general and that of IFFCO in particular saw international suppliers of phosphoric acid reducing its rate to $600 PMT CFR from their earlier stand of USD 715 a tonne.
IFFCO MD who took a principled stand on the issue and refused to be browbeaten by foreign suppliers shared this in his tweet “After hectic negotiations Phos Acid price settled at $600 PMT CFR till September ’16. Kudos to Imports team led by @KNJoshi4 , job well done.”
Attacking the unprofessional attitude of suppliers who quoted high rates despite a global downturn in prices IFFCO MD Dr U S Awasthi said such attitude is disturbing. He refused to buckle down, however.
His tweet on the issue read “The attitude of certain suppliers like OCP in current scenario is disturbing. But #IFFCO will not buckle under any pressure!!!”
OCP holds one third of the world export market share of phosphate in all its forms. Its website claims “OCP adopts a proactive business strategy based on anticipating our customer needs and adapting to them.”
PTI quotes “IFFCO said the international price of phosphoric acid, which is used in making of DAP and other complex fertilisers, should ideally be around USD 500 a tonne at a time when DAP rates have declined to USD 340-350 a tonne.”
It will be difficult to import phosphoric acid above USD 600 per tonne and no other Indian company can afford to import above this price, IFFCO said.
Alleging ‘cartelisation’ in global phosphoric acid market, Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) said this is being done to “dump” final product DAP in India and “cripple” the fertiliser industry here.
“One of the largest exporters has now announced to suspend shipment of phosphoric acid effective from July 1. This is clearly a cartelisation and adoption of unfair practice aimed to cripple the Indian industry,” FAI said in a statement.
Asserting that IFFCO “will not buckle under pressure”, the fertiliser firm’s Managing Director U S Awasthi said that the cooperative cannot pass on the rise in raw material prices to the farmers. So our demand of reducing the import price of phosphoric acid was reasonable and justified.
India is one of the largest importers of Phosphoric Acid in the world with over 2 million tonne imported in 2015-16 out of which IFFCO share stands at 41 per cent or about 8.25 lakh tonnes.