Pupuk Indonesia Niaga's subsidiary, Sigma Utama, which operates in the paint, coating and special chemical products industry, continues to innovate in line with technological developments in the coating sector. Recently Sigma Utama developed a coating inhibitor product in collaboration with Toray International, Inc (Japan), Innovar AG, LLC (USA) and collaborated with Brawijaya University, Faculty of Agriculture, Malang.

Benny F Simanjuntak, Main Director of Sigma Utama, explained that the function of urea inhibitor coating is as a urea fertilizer coating to increase the effectiveness of urea fertilizer application on plants so that it is more environmentally friendly because the greenhouse gas emissions released are lower compared to conventional urea fertilizer. This trial activity was also driven by IFRI (Indonesia Fertilizer Research Institute) so it is hoped that this coating inhibitor product can be applied for mass production throughout Pupuk Indonesia fertilizer producers.

A field survey to test the efficacy of urea inhibitors was carried out on December 8 2023 on agricultural land located at the foot of Mount Semeru, Batu - Malang. The efficacy test was carried out on corn plants with a test duration of 3 months. The implementation of this efficacy test was also attended by representatives of each company that was part of this research program.

"Through partnerships with Japan and the USA, export opportunities are open for urea fertilizer products that have been coated with inhibitors through the market network owned by Toray and Innovar, apart from meeting domestic demand of course. "If demand is high in the future, Sigma Utama will obtain a license from Toray and Innovar to produce urea inhibitor coatings." said Benny.