February 17 (SeeNews) - Romanian agri-industrial company InterAgro said on Monday that it is investing 22 million euro ($24 million) in a new terminal for imports and exports of fertilizers at the Danube river port of Zimnicea jointly with US fertilizer trader Nitron.
The investment is a joint venture with Nitron, which is also the main international export partner of InterAgro, the company said in a press release.
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The project is already in the final phase of development and is expected to be completed this year.
“We chose Zimnicea for this investment because it is the most modern port on the Danube in Romania, has a vertical quay and is able to operate 12 months a year, regardless of the fluctuating level of the river. In addition, most of the assets are already here and we own them," InterAgro president Ioan Niculae said.
The main market for imports will be Romania, from where they can be transported to Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine using barges, he added.
The fertilizer terminal will spread on 3 hectares of land and will have an initial capacity of 350,000 - 400,000 tonnes for exports and about 150,000 tonnes for imports.
Interagro and Nitron aim to expand the terminal's export capacity to 1 million tonnes by 2022.
Products will be brought to the terminal mainly on the Danube river with InterAgro's barges from the Black Sea port of Constanta. The group said it has allocated 18 of its barges for the project.
InterAgro SA, established in 1994, is the core company of financial and agri-industrial holding group InterAgro, which is active in trading in chemical fertilizers, cultivation of cereals and technical plants as well as in the food industry.
Nitron Group Corporation is a global trader of chemical and agricultural fertilizers established in 1982 in Connecticut, USA.
($=0.922 euro)