200,000 metric tonnes urea import on cards

Federal Industries and Production Minister Rana Tanveer on Thursday recommended immediately importing 200,000 metric tonnes of urea to avert a shortage of the fertiliser during this year’s Kharif season.

According to a statement, Tanveer, who is also the national food security and research minister, was chairing a meeting of the Fertiliser Review Committee after analysing the consumption patterns, available stock, and future needs during the Kharif season 2024.

The minister pointed out that the demand for urea in this year’s Kharif season was 3.6% higher than the last one.

He explained that the expected demand for urea was around 3,442 metric tonnes for this year’s Kharif season.

However, he added that the available stock of urea in the country stood at around 3,192 metric tonnes, resulting in a shortage of the fertiliser during the season.

“To address this situation, 200,000 metric tonnes of urea will be imported, while the rest will be met by increasing production at the local fertiliser plants.”

The minister said all the urea plants in the country would remain operational at their full capacity to meet the local demand.

“The government is ensuring gas supply to the fertiliser industry for the benefit of the farmers.”
Tanveer noted that the purpose of importing urea was to ensure food security in the country.

In addition, he continued that the move would increase the farmer’s capacity for productivity and also bring about a significant reduction in the prices, stabilising the country’s urea market.

The statement read that the final decision to import urea would be made by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet during its next meeting.

Making matters worse, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has recently projected a water shortage of up to 30% for the Kharif crops amid high system losses.

It warned that the shortage will be even higher at the time when farmers would be sowing cotton, rice and maize crops, and likely to drop to 7% late in the season.

The Kharif season runs from April to September. For the 2024 season, the water regulator has projected the availability of a total of 63.61 million acres feet (MAF) of water.

Out of this, Punjab will receive 31.13 MAF of water, Sindh 28.81 MAF, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 0.82 MAF and Balochistan 2.85 MAF.

The Irsa Advisory Committee (IAC) in meeting held earlier this month discussed water availability criteria for the Kharif 2024. It also estimated 13.67 MAF water losses during the season.

The IAC unanimously agreed on the data of expected inflows at the rim stations for early and late Kharif 2024.

The total inflows at rim stations were estimated at 99.41 MAF, out which 23.55 MAF inflows will be available early in the season and 75.87 MAF in late Kharif.