Pakistan likely to import 0.1 million metric tonnes of urea from China

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan is likely to import 0.1 million metric tonnes of urea from China to meet the shortfall in the country.

Officials in ministry of indus­tries and production informed that government has recently decided to import 0.1 million metric tons of urea from China. The government in October had decided to import 0.1 million MT of urea. Later, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet had granted ex­emption of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules for importing urea. Trad­ing Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) had issued tender on October 22, 2021, which was opened on November 22, 2021 but no bid was received. How­ever, now the federal govern­ment has decided to import 100,000 MT of urea from China.

“The government is finaliz­ing import of urea which will reach Karachi by mid-Decem­ber for maintaining buffer stocks of urea,” said another official of the ministry of in­dustries and production. He further said that there is an ample amount of urea avail­able for Rabi season as the government has arranged for additional production of 2,25,000 tons over last year by extending the operations of Northern plants and FFBL till February. In addition to these measures, the government is importing urea for maintain­ing buffer stocks of urea.

Despite sufficient stock, urea is selling at high prices in different parts of country as compared to official prices

On the other hand, despite sufficient stock, urea is selling at high prices in different parts of the country as compared to the official prices. Urea is sell­ing at Rs2,100 to Rs2500 per bag in the market whereas the factory rate is approximate­ly Rs1,750. Meanwhile, DAP fertiliser is available above Rs9,000 to Rs9500 per bag while the factory rate is around Rs8,250. However, the ministry of industries and production had in last week had claimed that the urea prices had been restored to controlled rates ie Rs1768/bag by taking punitive measures in Punjab. The pric­ing structure is being main­tained in other provinces.

According to the Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar, the demand of urea would be met through domes­tic production. He said that the government ensured the unin­terrupted gas supplies to the plants for boosting domestic production for Rabi season.

The fertilizer industry had already launched a massive awareness campaign among the farmers about the prescribed prices of the urea fertilizer and asked them not pay higher prices, besides report the profi­teers and hoarders of urea to the government authorities. An official of the Fertilizer Manu­facturers of Pakistan Advisory Council (FMPAC) recently stat­ed that the industry supports steps taken by the government to manage hoarding and resul­tant profiteering on Urea. The industry has extended its full support to the government to identify any hoarding and over­charging activities. Dispatch in­formation is being provided to the government authorities on a daily basis who are now su­pervising sales.