Slowdown: Fertiliser sales decline four per cent

Gas supply suspension to the industry restricts local production.

KARACHI:

Fertiliser sales declined by four per cent to 2.3 million tons during January to April against the same period last year on the back of lower availability of urea, the country’s premier fertiliser.

Lower availability of urea – that accounts for 75 per cent of total fertiliser sales – was witnessed as suspension of gas supply to the industry restricted local production by nine per cent coupled with delays in fertiliser import.

Urea sales are expected to gather pace due to seasonal impact as the Kharif sowing period approaches, said Invest Cap analyst Asad Siddiqui.

Besides lower availability, increase in fertiliser prices by 40 per cent are also as a contributing factor in the decline, said Topline Securities analyst Farhan Mahmood.

Urea sales fell eight per cent to 1.7 million tons while di-ammonia phosphate (DAP) sales declined by seven per cent to 215,000 tons.

Meanwhile, total production in the country fell by 12 per cent during April on a monthly basis. However, production of the country’s premier fertiliser, urea, witnessed just a five per cent decline.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2011.