Jakarta. Indonesia plans to double its urea fertilizer exports to Australia to 500,000 tons under a cooperation scheme valued at around Rp 7 trillion ($398.2 million), a senior government official said.

Indonesia previously completed its first fertilizer shipment to Australia, totaling 47,250 tons, valued at approximately Rp 600 billion.

“Our initial plan is to export 250,000 tons to Australia and later increase it to 500,000 tons,” Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said in a statement.

Amran added that several other countries have also begun expressing interest in Indonesian fertilizer products.

“The Indian ambassador contacted me directly requesting 500,000 tons, and several other countries are also interested, including the Philippines, Brazil, Bangladesh, and others,” he said.

The minister said the government is currently pushing ahead with a major revitalization of the national fertilizer industry through seven strategic projects with a total investment reaching Rp 72.84 trillion.

The program involves several state-linked fertilizer producers, including Pupuk Indonesia, Pupuk Sriwidjaja Palembang, Pupuk Kalimantan Timur, Petrokimia Gresik, and Pupuk Kujang.

According to Amran, the modernization program aims to replace older, energy-intensive factories with newer and more efficient facilities.

Production costs at the new plants are estimated to be around 26% lower than at older facilities, helping improve competitiveness and support Indonesia’s ambition to expand fertilizer exports to global markets.