According to a government official, four global firms have submitted bids as of June 26, the last day for bidding, to supply 12,500 tons each of diammonium phosphate (DAP) and urea, responding to a tender call by the Agriculture Inputs Corporation (AIC).
Bulk Trade of Bangladesh, Mid-Gulf International of Cyprus, Transammonia of Switzerland and Iskenderun company of Turkey have bid for supplying 12,500 tons of DAP. Similarly, Bulk Trade, Mid-Gulf International and Transammonia submitted proposals to supply 12,500 tons of urea.
“We are studying the documents submitted by bidders and a board meeting will make the appropriate decisions within a week, taking into consideration the prices quoted and their international reputations,” Pashupati Gautam, managing director of AIC, told myrepublica.com.
The government has already selected Mid-Gulf International to procure 12,500 tons of DAP from China. The company offered a price of US$ 439 for delivery of the fertilizer to Nepal´s customs entry point. The company is delivering the fertilizer by mid-August.
Besides, out of the 32,500 tons of fertilizer (25,000 tons urea, 5,000 tons complex, 2,500 tons nitrogen) pledged for supply at Import Parity Price - an existing international market price, 7,500 tons of urea has already arrived and an additional 2500 tons is arriving in Nepal within a week. Brahmaputra Fertilizer Company, an Indian government undertaking, has been designated to supply fertilizer sold by the Indian government.
“We sent Rs 80.5 million to the supplier company Tuesday to procure an additional 5,000 tons of urea from India,” said Gautam. AIC has already paid Rs 304.8 million for 10,000 tons of urea. The Ministry of Finance recently provided Rs 500 million to AIC as reimbursement of fertilizer bills.
“The remaining 17,500 tons will be procured by the end of August,” added Gautam.
Ending a more than decade long prohibition of subsidy on fertilizer the government decided a few months ago to provide a yearly subsidy to farmers on 100,000 tons of chemical fertilizer- one third the total fertilizer demand.
The government had ended fertilizer subsidies in 1997, bowing to mounting pressure from the donor community, which alleged massive misuse of subsidized fertilizer.
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