Govt to keep 0.2m tonnes of urea inventory
PHOTO: APP
The government has decided to maintain 2 lakh tonnes of urea inventory in March and the cost of inventory loss of manufacturing companies will be built in the government’s next controlled prices for urea.
In a fertiliser review meeting, chaired by Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar on Tuesday, the participants were told that the carrying cost of each urea bag was Rs2-3.
The meeting discussed the production and demand for fertilisers in the upcoming 2022 Kharif sowing season.
It decided to import urea to hedge against global supply disruptions and higher prices amid the Ukraine crisis, for which the Ministry of Industries would place a summary in the next Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting.
Moreover, the Ministry of Industries was told to submit a summary on the projected gas supply from April to June 2022 to the northern urea plants in the ECC meeting.
On the occasion, Bakhtiar said that the government was geared up to ensure smooth, adequate and timely supply of key soil nutrients to the farmers in the upcoming Kharif season and decisions had been made accordingly.
He voiced hope that the domestic production of urea would be maintained like the previous year to meet the requirement of fertilisers.
The minister asked all provincial agricultural departments to prepare a district-wise supply plan as per the agronomic demand for the Kharif season.
The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam, representatives of fertiliser manufacturing industry and officials of provincial agriculture departments.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 9th, 2022.
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