Talking to APP on Tuesday, he said the country was facing shortage of 850,000 tons of urea this season and the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet had already approved import of 700,000 tons through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP).
Zehri said that out of the total imports, 400,000 tons would arrive at the Karachi Port and the remaining 300,000 tons would reach at the Gwadar Port.
He said the government would give subsidies to the farmers on the imported commodity and its price had been fixed at Rs1,500 per bag. “The difference in the price of imported urea will be borne by the government.”
The minister said in order to increase fertiliser production, a committee headed by secretary industries has been constituted which would ensure uninterrupted gas supply to fertiliser industries.
He said that a price mechanism should be evolved at the federal level to control hoarding and black marketing of the commodity because there is no check and balance on the price system in the fertiliser sector.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 16th, 2011.
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