Urea sales drop 6% to 465,000 tons in July

Decline comes primarily due to early buying in previous month

KARACHI: Total urea offtake dropped 6% to 465,000 tons in July 2019 compared to the corresponding period of last year.

National Fertiliser Development Corporation (NFDC) recorded a decrease of 28% month-on-month in urea sales in July. The offtake stood at 643,000 tons in the previous month of June.

“The decline is primarily due to early buying in the previous month owing to an expected hike in retail prices post-hike in gas tariffs,” said Aba Ali Habib Securities in a report.

“On the other hand, the offtake of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser grew 28% month-on-month. Overall, the nutrient offtake recorded a decline of 6% month-on-month.”

Company-wise, Fatima Fertiliser recorded the largest monthly growth of 69% in urea sales. To the contrary, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim Limited (FFBL) and Fauji Fertiliser Company (FFC) recorded a decline of 62% and 33% respectively, whereas urea sales of Engro Fertilisers remained unchanged at 175,000 tons.

“Benefiting from seasonality, the overall fertiliser sector posted growth of 28% in DAP sales,” said the brokerage house.

The largest increase of 74% in DAP sales was recorded by FFC in the month under review, followed by FFBL at 62% and Engro Fertilisers 37%.

Volume-wise in the urea segment, FFC remained the market leader, capturing 38% of industry sales in July 2019 followed by Engro Fertilisers at 37.6%, Fatima Fertiliser 9.3% and FFBL 7%.

In the DAP segment, FFBL emerged as the market leader capturing 49.5% of industry sales, followed by Engro Fertilisers at 20.3%, FFC 19.30% and Fatima Fertiliser 1.5%.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2019.

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