A farmer spreads fertiliser in his rice field. PHOTO: REUTERS
LAHORE: The fertiliser sector has witness a mixed trend for the seventh month of the current calendar year as almost all manufacturers have posted declining trends in urea off-take.
As per numbers released by the National Fertilizer Development Centre, urea off-take for the month of July 2017 stood at 339,000 tons, down 68% month-on-month and 56% on a year-on-year basis.
However, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) off-take for the same month showed a positive trend and clocked in at 283,000 tons, posting an increase of 153% on monthly and 31% on year-on-year basis.
Cumulatively, during the first seven months of the calendar year 2017, urea off-take has posted an increase of 19% year-on-year to 3.1 million tons. The DAP, on the other hand, during the same period stood at 873,000 tons, an increase of 24%.
Engro Fertilizers posted the largest year-on-year decline ie 73%, whereas Fatima Fertilizer posted 84% decline on a month-on-month basis.
“The numbers remained in-line with our expectations, decline was anticipated post aggressive by dealers during the month of June-17 in which record off-take of over one million tons was recorded,” said JS Research in a report.
The industry ended the month with inventory in-hand of 1.2 million tons, up 7% year-on-year. The inventory levels are expected to continue posting increase as Kharif sowing season comes to an end.
Overall, export numbers posted off-take of 92,000 tons. Engro Fertilizers emerged as the best performer with exports of 47,000 tons followed by Fatima Fertilizer with off-take of 28,000 tons and Fauji Fertilizer Company with exports of 18,000 tons.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 26th, 2017.
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