Urea price inches closer to prescribed rates
The fertiliser industry has made an investment of Rs162 billion in capacity expansion and plant upgrade, which has helped Pakistan to become self-sufficient in urea production. PHOTO: FILE
The price of urea in Pakistan has declined to Rs1,850 per bag which is close to the prescribed level of Rs1,768 per bag, according to the data released by the PBS.
Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar and Federal Minister for Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam presided over a meeting of Fertiliser Review Committee on Wednesday.
Officials informed the meeting about the price, availability, daily supply and local production of urea in Pakistan.
The participants noted that supply of urea increased to 440,000 bags from 342,000 bags on a daily basis last week.
They also briefed the ministers that timely actions by the government triggered a significant reduction in urea price over the past week.
Considering that Barani area demanded more urea in small quantity after rain spells, agriculture departments were instructed to coordinate with companies to ensure that all dealers located in such areas received urea supplies in line with their requirements.
This will also help stabilise price of urea in Pakistan, the meeting observed.
Similarly, the governments of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa have issued standard operating procedures (SOPs) to DCOs for supply of urea from over-supplied areas to deficient areas. This will help remove inter-district anomalies.
In order to curb hoarding and profiteering, the government of Punjab identified some dealers and sub dealers engaged in malpractices.
It forwarded the cases to Fertiliser Manufacturers of Pakistan Advisory Council (FMPAC) for further punitive actions to check such events in future.
Similarly, through anti-smuggling campaigns, enforcement agencies seized 65,229 bags of urea from cross border trafficking.
After extensive deliberations, the meeting decided to increase supply of urea to South Punjab and Sindh to meet the daily requirements according to agronomic practices.
The minister concluded the meeting citing that the Ministry of Industries and Production, along with provincial governments and fertiliser industry, was maintaining constant vigilance over the situation.
It is also in touch with the team on the ground and taking decisions accordingly in order to stabilise price of urea in Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2022.
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