Organic fertiliser imports to cost over $63 m
View(s):Sri Lanka is to import fertiliser inputs to the tune of US$63.7 million for the September-March Maha season alone. According to a letter issued by the Agriculture Department Additional Secretary Mahesh Gammanpila in awarding the contract to Valency International Pvt. Ltd. in Singapore on August 4, 2021 to import fertiliser inputs from Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group in China, the total value of the imports will amount to $63.7 million (which includes a quantity from Singapore). This is to import organic fertiliser containing 10 and 15 per cent of Nitrogen each and another stock of Potassium fertiliser.
The import of 96,000 MT of sterilised solid organic fertiliser containing 10 per cent Nitrogen costs $446 per MT amounting to a total value of $42.8 million; and 3000 MT of sterilised solid organic fertiliser containing 15 per cent Nitrogen at $2, 318 per MT, amounts to a total of $6.9 million.
Valency International will also procure 29,167 MT of potassium chloride or potassium fertiliser from Agricultural Resource and Investment Pvt. Ltd. in Singapore at the rate of $478.5 per MT amounting to a total cost of $13.9 million, the letter said.
These requirements of providing added nutrients to the compost by importing Nitrogen and Potassium is expected at the above prices for one season alone. Whereas, importing urea at current prices containing 46 per cent Nitrogen from India is about $336 per MT and if Potassium Chloride was imported it would have cost $202.5 per MT, experts point out.