Coromandel to invest Rs 1,000 crore in new manufacturing facility

30 Apr 2024 , 03:00 PM

Coromandel International, which manufactures fertilisers, will invest ₹1,000 Crore to build a phosphoric and sulfuric acid facility in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.

In a regulatory filing, the business stated that it has started project activities to establish its Phosphoric Acid-Sulphuric Acid complex facility in Kakinada.

"With an estimated cost of ₹1,000 Crore, the project is scheduled to be completed in two years. The projected 650-tonne-per-day (tpd) phosphoric acid factory is equipped with modern DA-HF (Dihydrate Attack-Hemihydrate Filtration) process technology and an automated DCS system," it stated.

This would increase backward integration capacities and supply steady supplies of phosphoric acid for its fertiliser manufacturing by replacing more than 50% of the Kakinada plant's imported acid requirement.

In addition to generating power from waste heat, the company intends to build a 1,800 TPD sulphuric acid plant to cover its own phosphoric acid production demands. Phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid are essential intermediates in the production of phosphatic fertilisers such as DAP and NPK.

Fertiliser plants at Visakhapatnam and Ennore are currently fully integrated with captive sulphuric and phosphoric acid facilities, and the proposed expansion at Kakinada will similarly result in an integrated complex.

Alagappan expressed that this investment marks a significant milestone in Coromandel's efforts to enhance its self-reliance in fertilizer production. In recent years, the company has focused on bolstering its upstream supply chain through investments in mining projects and expanding production capacity for intermediate products like Phosphoric and Sulphuric acid at Visakhapatnam.

The company is also looking into state and federal government funding opportunities to increase project profitability and provide supply security for critical raw materials used in fertiliser manufacturing.

Coromandel International has two key business segments: nutrient and other allied companies, and crop protection. These include fertiliser, crop protection, bio goods, specialty nutrients, and organic enterprises.

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