Australian PM Albanese appreciates Prabowo's assistance in securing Australia's fertiliser supply

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has conveyed his appreciation to Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto for assisting in ensuring the security of urea fertiliser supplies for Australia amid the impacts of global geopolitical conflicts.

The Australian PM, via the X platform, stated that he had spoken by telephone with President Prabowo on Tuesday afternoon (21/4) to discuss the conflict in the Middle East and its effects on the region, including in terms of commodity supplies.

“I thank President Prabowo for helping to secure additional fertiliser for Australia,” said Albanese in his statement on Wednesday.

Albanese said that Australia and Indonesia are always working together to ensure the sustainability of important commodity supplies for both countries.

In addition to commodity supplies, the Australian PM said he also discussed efforts to enhance energy supply chain resilience for both countries with President Prabowo.

“Strong relations in our region are more important than ever before, and our two countries are each other’s closest friends,” Albanese added.

According to Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya on Tuesday, President Prabowo and PM Albanese discussed the approval of exports of Indonesian-made urea fertiliser to Australia amounting to 250,000 tonnes in the initial phase during their conversation on Tuesday.

He mentioned that Indonesia’s decision to approve the fertiliser export received appreciation from the Australian PM, which was conveyed during that phone call.

Besides Australia, the Indonesian government is also planning to export urea fertiliser to several other countries such as India, the Philippines, Thailand, and Brazil, he said.

The total urea fertiliser export commitment of approximately one million tonnes is part of efforts to expand the global market for national fertiliser products, said the Cabinet Secretary.

Based on data from the Minister of Agriculture, total national urea production is recorded at 7.8 million tonnes, while domestic needs are around 6.3 million tonnes.

With that production surplus, the government assesses that exports can still be carried out without disrupting fertiliser availability domestically, he said.

“This step is expected to maintain domestic supply resilience while strengthening Indonesia’s contribution to the global market,” added Teddy.