The Paradip unit of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) has started commercial trading of surplus phosphoric acid, company officials said here today.
Since its take over from Oswal Chemical and Fertiliser Limited in 2005, the fertiliser manufacturing plant has turned surplus in phosphoric acid production.
Recently, the company's Kandla unit has become the first buyer of phosphoric acid, said D V Suri, Advisor (personnel and administration) of the plant.
With this, the Paradip plant will operate at higher load and will improve financial viability of Paradip unit in the present competitive fertilizer sector, he said.
For the export of acid, IIFCO Paradip has started a 6 km long pipeline from plant site to the jetty along with necessary pumping arrangement. The first ship was loaded on July 12 with export of 8000 tons of acid.
"It is now planned that export will be doubled from next month. This is a major achievement since the unit started operating in 2005 and the complete project has been commissioned in a record time of six months," Suri added.
The four-year-old plant has now achieved a near 100 per cent capacity utilisation, he said.