An estimated 1.75 million tons of urea fertilizer was delivered to the agriculture sector by petrochemical complexes from March 2020 to January, director of the production control department at the National Petrochemical Company said.
"The volume increased by about 30% compared to the same period last year," the Oil Ministry news agency Shana quoted Jalal Mirhashemi as saying.
With new petrochemical units coming on stream, Iran is self-sufficient in producing urea fertilizer for more than 10 years, he said, adding that “we are among the top exporters of this petrochemical in the world.”
Annual production of urea is about 5 million tons, around half of which is sold domestically and the surplus is exported.
Production is projected to rise three-fold by the end of the Sixth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2017-22), Mirhashemi said.
Output is planned to reach 14.7 million tons p.a. after expansion of several plants including the third phase of Pardis Petrochemical Complex in Asalouyeh, Bushehr Province, Lordegan Urea Fertilizer Plant in the Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province and Hengam Petrochemical project in the Hengam Island off the Persian Gulf.
According to the director of Iran's Association of Petrochemical Industry Corporation, as per a government decision for the current fiscal year that ends in March, 2.2 million tons of urea fertilizer will be provided to the ASSC for distribution to framers.
“Since the beginning of the year, we have delivered our entire monthly quota,” Ahmad Mahdavi Abhari said.
The farming industry is the main buyer of urea, a white crystalline solid containing 46% nitrogen, as animal feed additive and fertilizer. In the past decade, urea has almost replaced ammonium nitrate as fertilizer.
