Mettis Global News
Mettis Global News
Mettis Global News
Mettis Global News

Trending :

DAP in high demand while Urea sales lag in the first 3 months of Kharif 2018

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on whatsapp

Total fertilizer off-takes for the month of June 2018 were reported at 877 thousand tons, a decline of about 39% compared to the same month last year.

The cumulative nutrients off-take during the first three months of the Kharif season, running from April to June of the year 2018, witnessed a decrease of 16.8% compared to the off-take in the corresponding period of last year.

According to data from the National Fertilizers Development Centre (NFDC) of the Planning Commission, total nutrients sales were reported at 990 thousand tonnes in these three months while urea sales too witnessed a decline of about 19.3%, falling down to 1,477 thousand tonnes in these three months compared to 1,830 thousand tonnes last year.

DAP off-take, on the other hand, witnessed an increase of 14.1%, rising to 317 thousand tonnes during these three months this year, from 278,000 tonnes in the same time frame of Kharif 2017.

Of the 990 thousand tonnes of total nutrient off-take, about 426 thousand tonnes were recorded in the month of June alone, a decrease of about 34.2% from the off-take recorded in June 2017. Of these 426 thousand tonnes, Nitrogen accounted for the largest share at 331 thousand tonnes, followed by Phosphate at 94 thousand tonnes and Potash at 1.5 thousand tonnes. Compared to last year (June 2017), both Nitrogen off-take and Potash off-take declined by 41.8% and 21.2% respectively while phosphate off-take witnessed an increase of about 20.8%.

Urea off-take, in the month of June 2018, showed a decrease of 42.6% from the corresponding month of last year (June 2017), and was recorded at 608 thousand tonnes. Of these, the highest use of urea was by Punjab at 404 thousand tonnes, followed by Sindh at 165 thousand tonnes, KP at 21 thousand tonnes and Balochistan at 19 thousand tonnes.  Compared to June 2017, the highest decline in urea usage was in KP, where usage declined by 47%. Urea usage fell by 45% in Punjab, 39% in Sindh and 11% in Balochistan. On a month on month basis though, urea sales increased by 23% compared to the 494 thousand tonnes sold in May 2018. 

While domestic production of urea in the month of June 2018 was only 446 thousand tons, the leftover from the previous month of about 329 thousand tons meant that a total of 776 thousand tons of urea were available to be used. Since total consumption in June was only 608 thousand tons, a total of 168 thousand tons will be available to be used at a later date.

According to actual figures up to June 2018 and estimates from NFDC of July-Sep 2018, Kharif 2018 (April-Sept) opened with the stock of 378 thousand tonnes of urea. With the present level of urea production i.e. 2648 thousand tonnes, its availability during Kharif 2018 would be about 3026 thousand tonnes against an estimated demand of 2915 thousand tonnes.

DAP off-take in June 2018, on the other hand, increased by 69.9% over June 2017 and was recorded at 190,000 tonnes in June 2018 with Punjab using up 142 thousand tonnes, Sindh 37 thousand tonnes, KP 6.7 thousand tonnes and Balochistan 4.3 thousand tonnes. The largest increase in June 2018 over the corresponding month last year was in KP, where DAP usage increased by 195%, followed by Sindh with an 83% increase in usage, Punjab with an increase of 65% and KP with an increase of 26%.

While domestic production of DAP in the month of June 2018 was only 71 thousand tons, the leftover from the previous month of about 383 thousand tons, which together with imported supplies of 142 thousand tons meant that a total of 596 thousand tons of urea were available to be used. Since total consumption in June was only 190 thousand tons, a total of 406 thousand tons will be available to be used at a later date.

According to actual figures up to June 2018 and estimates from NFDC of July-Sept 2018, Total DAP availability during Kharif 2018 (April-Sept) would be 1084 thousand tonnes comprising of 190 thousand tonnes inventory, 520 thousand tonnes imported supplies and 374 thousand tonnes of domestic production. As against this availability, DAP off-take estimates are around 751 thousand tonnes.

Posted on: 2018-07-24T14:34:00+05:00

22324