The increase in fertiliser production was led by an 81% drop in fertiliser imports in April as the government limited its import bill. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: As the government scrambles to save precious foreign exchange and restricts urea imports, the local fertiliser industry capitalised on the opportunity by boosting production. According to the data released by the National Fertilizer Development Centre, urea off-take for the January to April period witnessed an increase of 23% YoY to 1.65 million tons, compared to 1.34 million tons in the corresponding period of last year.
April 2013 saw a mere 2% increase clocking in at 314,000 tons compared to off-take in April 2012. Compared to March, urea off-take fell 22% to 314,213 tons from 405,081 tons, and was 29% lower than the monthly average for the first quarter of 2013, data from NFDC shows.
Off-take for Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) increased 32% YoY for the same period, clocking in at 193,296 tons compared to 146,490 tons in the January to April period of 2013. On a sequential basis, DAP off-take declined 19.5%, down from 64,705 tons in March to 52,082 tons in April.
Urea production for the first four months of 2013 stood at 1.42 million tons, up 1.04% from 1.4 million tons in the corresponding period of last year. On a sequential basis, urea production in April actually fell 5.5% to 374,620 tons compared to 396,589 tons in March.
DAP production saw a whopping 46% growth in the first four months of 2013, increasing to 211,540 tons, despite the Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim plant shutting down in February. In April, DAP production grew 20.7% to 66,000 tons compared to 54,000 in March.
The increase in fertiliser production was led by an 81% drop in fertiliser imports in April as the government limited its import bill leaving the market open for local producers. However, lower gas availability resulted in smaller increases in production on a sequential basis.
Local fertiliser producers were able to capture the share left vacant by imports, with analysts expecting companies connected to the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline (SNGPL) network to fill the void.
The SNGPL network includes Pakarab Fertilizer, Engro Enven, Agritech Limited and Dawood Hercules.
Fauji Fertilizer and Engro Fertilizers saw volumes increase 30% and 66% YoY respectively taking up most of the share left by reduced imports. Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim and Fatima Fertilizer saw off-takes increase 59% and 433% YoY respectively.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2013.
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