Russian fertilizer producer Uralchem has reached an agreement with India's RCF, NFL and IPL to set up a joint venture to build a 1.8mn-2mn t/yr urea plant in Russia.
The plant is set to receive ammonia — urea's key feedstock — from Russian supplier Togliattiazot, while the Indian firms will finance the project until the plant begins commercial operation, according to Uralchem. No timeline has emerged for the project.
The agreement comes during the 23rd India-Russia annual summit, with Russian president Vladimir Putin attending in-person in New Delhi.
Russia's existing urea plants are owned and operated solely by Russian firms without any third-party involvement. But Indian fertilizer firms have rolled out the joint-venture model in other countries, notably in Oman with the 2.1mn t/yr granular urea Omifco plant, and more widely for the supply of phosphate-based fertilizers.
Russia is consistently one of India's top suppliers of fertilizers and has typically been the second largest of urea to India after Oman in recent years. India remains strongly reliant on urea imports, despite its considerable domestic production, with Indian firms buying over 9mn t of urea through import tenders so far this year.
