The Ethiopian Agricultural Business Corporation is to procure 100,000 metric tons of different kinds of fertilizers, The Reporter has learnt.The fertilizers include NPS, NPSB and NPSZnB.
Concerning the current harvest season, the government has ordered all the transport companies to load the fertilizers from the Djibouti port.
It is to be recalled that back in September 2018, the Corporation opened a fertilizer bid worth USD 400 million (11 billion birr). The bid was meant for the purchase of 1.125 million tons of fertilizers. At the time, the bidders gave USD 400 million to supply 500,000 tons of Urea (divided in 10 lots), 450,000 tons of NPSB (divided in nine lots), 75,000 tons of NPS (divided in one lot) and 100,000 tons of NPSZnB (also in one lot).
In this regard, a company called Agri Commodities and Finance ZTE gave a total offer of around USD 179.67 million for the supply of 500,000 metric tons of assortment of fertilizer types.
Moreover, for the rest of the 625,000 metric tons of NPS, NPSB and NPSZnB fertilizers, the Moroccan fertilizer giant – OCP – gave the winning total offer of USD 177.32 million. At the time, OCP also gave the lowest offer on the rest of the bid to supply NPSZnB amounting to USD 34.64 million.
In total, the sum least offer by the aforementioned companies was around USD 417 million, with OCP listing the lowest price for most of the supply. However, following the bid, it was difficult for the government to purchase the fertilizer on thetotal offer made by the suppliers. Hence, the government has decided to renegotiate with the suppliers for a price cut. In this regard, just recently,Agri Commodities and Finance ZTE decreased its price by USD 21.1 million and agreed to supply the fertilizers with USD 158.6 million and OCP reduced its initial total offer to supply Urea by USD 17 million.
“The latest procurement is because the ones alreadyprocured will not be enough,”an official from the Corporation told The Reporter adding,“The tender will soon be floated.”
