“(…) It had a production of 4,555 tons of fertilizers that has generated income of 23.9 million bolivianos (more than seven million dollars),” said the general manager of EBIH, Jorge Martínez.

The plant was inaugurated in October 2023 by President Luis Arce as part of the industrialization policy to substitute imports. This industry is located next to the Santiváñez Industrial Park, in the homonymous municipality, department of Santa Cruz. “It will have export capacity and the whole world wants to buy fertilizers and we, as a country, are privileged, we have always said it, we have everything, but we needed to organize ourselves in an industrialization process,” Martinez proclaimed.

The plant is expected to guarantee 100% coverage of domestic demands and expand sales of fertilizer abroad.

The construction company Sur Energy SRL carried out the project in just over a year at a cost of eight million dollars after signing the execution contract with EBIH.

In order to manufacture NPK (a granulated fertilizer or manure made up of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), EBIH will obtain the raw material from the companies Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) and the quarries of Cochabamba. The Company reported that the production will cover the demand for fertilizers in the domestic market, so Bolivia will stop importing them. 35 percent of production will be destined for the domestic market and the rest for export, thus generating more income for the country.

The new factory will produce some 60 thousand tons per year of NPK and slow-release granulated urea, two of the most demanded fertilizers in the world, which will allow the yield of agricultural crops in Cochabamba and the country to grow by 60%, according to forecasts.

The Santiváñez plant was the first of the nearly 170 plants proposed by the national government as part of its industrialization policy with import substitution.

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