Mitsubishi plans to help set up new fertilizer plant in Bangladesh

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has signalled its willingness to help establish a urea fertilizer plant in Bangladesh’s Bhola District.

The proposed facility, which would be undertaken as a joint venture with the government, would have a capacity of 500,000 tonnes and would help to satisfy the South Asian country’s burgeoning demand for fertilizers.

The development follows Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ successful commissioning of the Ghorashal-Polash urea fertilizer plant and the discovery of gas reserves in Bhola. The company has indicated that it hopes to replicate the success of the $1.2bn mega-project.

A delegation from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, led by the project manager of the Ghorashal-Polash facility, Yuichi Sayama, told Bangladesh’s industry minister in a January 28 meeting that the company is keen to help Bangladesh to increase its production of urea and thereby to help advance the country’s food security goals.

Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, for his part, said that the government is carrying out a feasibility study for the proposed plant in Bhola.

Bangladesh has five urea factories, and its annual urea demand is estimated to stand at 2.6 million tonnes. Local facilities currently have the capacity to produce two million tonnes per year.