Maaden Chairman Abdullah Saif Al-Saif and President and CEO Khalid Al-Mudaifer, along with Sutanu Behuria, secretary of the Indian Department of Fertilizers, and other dignitaries attended a reception in New Delhi on Wednesday marking the departure of the first shipment of DAP sold directly by Maaden to the Indian market.

The reception followed a series of meetings between Maaden’s marketing team and representatives of Indian fertilizer companies earlier in the day.

“This marks the beginning of a new and lasting strategic relationship between Maaden and India that will go from strength to strength,” said Al-Saif who earlier had meetings with a number of Indian fertilizer companies.

“Our visit has been exceptionally productive in building closer ties directly between Maaden’s own marketing team and key companies here in India.”

“We look forward to increasing food security in India through an expanding flow of high quality product from Maaden’s world scale phosphate resources and operations,” added Mudaifer.

“Our strategy is to become one of the largest phosphate producers in the world. The fact that India is the world’s largest importer of DAP is evidence of the strategic importance of India to Maaden,” he said.

“To have such great demand, located so close to Saudi Arabia’s abundant resources, shows why this relationship is so important.”

Maaden affiliate, Maaden Phosphate Company (MPC), a joint venture with SABIC, began initial production of DAP in June this year and will produce around 3 million tons per year when at full production.

The operation includes a phosphate mine and beneficiation plant at Al-Jalamid and a processing complex at Ras Al-Khair.

The two sites are linked by the new 1,500 km North South railroad and supported by extensive infrastructure including the new port from which the shipment sailed on Wednesday.

Maaden has already announced that it is studying a new phosphate project, which will add 1.5 million tons of phosphoric acid annually to the company’s output.

“The relationship between India and Saudi Arabia is one built on strong foundations and a long history of trade and collaboration,” said Mudaifer.

“Maaden is committed to growing its business in India for the long term,” he said.

“We will concentrate on building productive and harmonious relationships between Maaden and Indian buyers over the coming years. Maaden currently markets 23 percent of the output from MPC but this will increase to 70 percent in due course,” he added.