Mangaluru: Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers (MCF), Karnataka’s only fertilizer company – is all set to celebrate its golden jubilee on April 17. Having started its journey as Malabar Chemicals and Fertilisers on incorporation as a company on June 18, 1966, the company has changed many hands and is presently owned by the Adventz group that Saroj Kumar Poddar heads. The group’s fertilizer division accounts for production of 4 million tonnes of fertilisers per annum.

Prabhakar Rao, director (works), MCF told media that the golden jubilee is a historic moment for the company, which meets major share of Karnataka’s fertilizer needs through its wide range of products.

Renamed Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers in 1971 after the state government took over its operations, MCF’s plant at Panambur is one of the three locations from where Adventz group produces fertilisers, the other two being at Goa and Paradip, he said.

With DAP, NPK and urea fertilisers among its major bouquet of specialty and water soluble fertilizer products, MCF is in to production of micro nutrients, organic fertilisers and city compost in conjunction with Mangaluru City Corporation, Prabhakar Rao said. MCF as part of its customer outreach programme also runs 200-odd Jai Kisan Junctions that serve as one-stop-solution for their myriad needs, he said adding various stakeholders will be symbolically felicitated at the celebration.

Having spent Rs 315 crore on converting its feedstock from naptha to liquefied natural gas in 2014, Prabhakar Rao said the company is awaiting LNG feed from the GAIL gas pipeline.

“MoPNG has assured us this environment friendly fuel by the end of this year,” Rao said adding the company, whose growth is co-terminus with that of its neighbor across the National Highway – the New Mangalore Port will rededicate itself to the state’s growth with its celebrations today.