Fertilizer offtake decreases by 9.6% YoY in March

April 26, 2023 (MLN): The country’s overall nutrient offtake has decreased by 9.6% YoY in March 2023, compared to the same month last year to stand at 301 thousand tonnes, the latest monthly report of fertilizer offtake issued by the National Fertilizer Development Company (NDFC) showed.

During the review month Nitrogen offtake decreased by 6.4% YoY while phosphate and Potash offtake witnessed a decrease of 28% YoY and 0.6% YoY, respectively over March 2022.

In product terms, urea offtake was 489 thousand tonnes, which exhibited a decrease of 3.8% YoY. DAP offtake was 51 thousand tonnes, which dropped by 35.7% YoY compared to the same month in the previous year.  

The cumulative nutrient offtake during Rabi 2022-23 was 2,420 thousand tonnes, observing a drop of 3.6% YoY over the same time frame of Rabi 2021-22. Nitrogen offtake increased by 1.7% YoY, whereas phosphate offtake inched down by 18.8% YoY over the previous Rabi season. Potash offtake witnessed a decrease of 47.6% YoY.

As far as fertilizer products are concerned, urea offtake during Rabi 2022-23 was 3,469 thousand tonnes showing an increase of 4.5% and DAP offtake was 710 thousand tonnes, plummeting by 23.4% over the same time frame of the previous season.

The drop in offtake of DAP during the Rabi season was due to floods (during August, and September) and its high prices in the international/domestic market. 

With regards to production,  the production of all fertilizer products during March 2023 remained at around 652 thousand tonnes. Out of this, urea production was 502 thousand tonnes, (77% of total products).

Other products include DAP 38 thousand tonnes, CAN 57 thousand tonnes, Nitrophos 42 thousand tonnes, SSP 8.5 thousand tonnes, NPK’s 4 thousand tonnes, and SOP 0.9 thousand tonnes. Imported supplies remained at around 30 thousand tonnes comprising 28 thousand tonnes of DAP, 2 thousand tonnes of AS, and 0.3 thousand tonnes of TSP. 

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