Fertiliser firms poised to import gas

Imports will allow plants to run throughout the year

The government has allowed fertiliser manufacturers to import gas for meeting local agricultural demand for chemicals as gas is an important raw material in fertiliser manufacturing.

“Fertiliser manufacturers are expected to import gas in the next three to four months,” an industry source said, adding, “The government has issued a policy for import very recently.”

“Fatima Fertiliser and Agritech both are set to import gas under the recent gas import policy notification for the sector,” he said.

The import of gas would allow all the fertiliser manufacturers in Pakistan to operate throughout the year and help the country get rid of fertiliser imports, he added.

Now, the government has arranged gas supply for all the fertiliser manufacturers in the country.

“Manufacturers will also create a buffer stock of fertiliser in the range of 200,000-250,000 tons every year,” he stated.

Pakistan has installed production capacity of 6.3-6.4 million tons of fertiliser per year against the demand for around six million tons.

Fatima Fertiliser, in a statement issued to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday, said with the completion of regulatory and related matters, the acquisition of production and operating plants (ammonia, urea, nitric acid, nitro-phosphate, calcium ammonium nitrate and clean development mechanism) from the associated company, namely Pakarab Fertilisers Limited, would be completely effective from September 2, 2020.

“With the completion of transactions, Fatima Fertiliser via its three plants in operation at Sadiqabad, Multan and Sheikhupura will start serving the nation and stakeholders with a cumulative nameplate capacity of 2.57 million tons per year,” it said.

Fatima Fertiliser’s profit improved 1.5% to Rs7.16 billion in the six-month period ended June 30, 2020, mainly due to a significant reduction in the cost of sales and a surge in other income.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2020.

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