REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- State-owned fertilizer company PT Pupuk Indonesia, through its subsidiary PT Pupuk Kujang, is seeking cooperation with the government of Laos to build an NPK fertilizer factory in that country.
"Laos has potential reserve of potassium , a basic material for NPK, a complex fertilizer comprising primarily three nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium," said a director of PT Pupuk Indonesia Djohan Safri, when welcoming Laotian Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith, accompanied by Director of South East Asia of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry Denny Abdi at the factory of Pupuk Kujang, in Cikampek, on Friday.
Djohan said in a news release, recently a delegation of Pupuk Kujang visited a KCL factory in Laos in the province of Khammouane.
"Laos has fairly large resources of potassium, an important component for NPK fertilizer. Potassium is an important component for fertilizer as a basic material for KCl in NPK," he said.
He said cooperation between the two sides is realized in a number of concepts such as in mining license under which potassium mines is to be operated by PT Aneka Tambang Tbk, an Indonesian state mining company, to be processed into KCl by the Pupuk Indonesia Group.
"And building an NPK factory in Laos to be close to the source of basic material. Urea and phosphate we could supply from our factory in Indonesia. The NPK production could sold in Laos and nearby countries," he said.
Djohan said the program is still in the phase of study, but the Laotian government has indicated approval and support.
The Laotian farm sector still needs large supply of fertilizers mainly urea, as that country has no fertilizer factory yet. All fertilizer requirement of that country is imported.
"This certainly is an opportunity for Pupuk Indonesia. Through Pupuk Kujang, we are ready to help in training and educating the local farmers especially in balanced fertilization," Djohan said.
The visit by the Pupuk Kujang team, headed by its chief executive Nugraha Budi Eka Irianto, to Laos is a follow up of talks on possible investment in potassium chloride (KCL) in that country.
"Pupuk Kujang needs around 70,000 tons of potassium per year. So far Indonesia has imported potassium from Canada , Russia, Jordan and Germany that the operational cost in production is high. With KCl supplied from Laos, the operational cost would be much lower," Nugraha said.
Pupuk Kujang is a subsidiary of Pupuk Indonesia, located in Cikampek to supply fertilizers mainly for West Java, with a production capacity of 1.14 million tons of urea, 660,000 tons of ammonia and 200,000 tons of NPK per year.
Altogether, Pupuk Indonesia has 10 subsidiaries including 5 fertilizer producers, and 5others operating in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) industry,logistic, energy, food and trading sectors.
Nugraha said he hoped the cooperation plan with Laos could be implemented as soon as possible.
The cooperation with Laos would benefit Pupuk Kujang as it could import its basic material at lower cost .
"We want the cooperation project implemented as soon as possible," he said .
He said both the governments of Laos and Indonesia had given positive response to the cooperation plan, adding the cooperation is on business to business.
"I am confident the business to business cooperation plan would strengthen the bilateral relations especially in the economic and agricultural sectors," he said.
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