Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals India Ltd (GSFC) launched an indigenous variety of calcium nitrate and boronated calcium nitrate.

Calcium nitrate and boronated calcium nitrate are being manufactured for the first time in India. Till now, they were imported from other countries.

What is calcium nitrate?

Calcium nitrate is an inorganic compound with the formula Ca(NO3)2. It is a white to gray, odourless, crystalline (sand-like) or granular solid. 

Calcium nitrate is used as a water-soluble fertilizer in agriculture. This product is also used in wastewater treatment and to increase the strength of cement concrete.

These two products were launched in the retail market for the first time from Solan in Himachal Pradesh and Bhavnagar in Gujarat.

GSFC currently has 10,000 tonnes per year capacity to manufacture these two products. Within three months, production is expected to increase to 15,000 tonnes per year. GSFC plans to increase the production to 30,000 tonnes in next nine to 12 months, the fertilizer ministry said.

Last year, India imported around 1.25 lakh tonne of calcium nitrate at Rs 225 crore. Of this, 76 per cent was imported from China and the rest from other countries like Norway and Israel. The GSFC itself imported and sold 4,600 tonnes last year.

The indigenous variety of calcium nitrate and boronated calcium nitrate will provide a quality product at a cheaper rate to the farmer community in the country than the imported ones. 

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