Fertilizer offtake drops 42% YoY in Feb 2025

March 14, 2025 (MLN): The country’s overall nutrient offtake in February 2025 stood at 231 thousand tonnes, reflecting a 41.8% decrease compared to February 2024, according to the latest monthly report by the National Fertilizer Development Centre (NFDC).

Among the nutrients, nitrogen, phosphate, and potash offtake recorded significant declines of 37.3%, 62.1%, and 13.3%, respectively, on a year-on-year basis.

Urea & DAP Offtake

Urea offtake dropped to 347 thousand tonnes, marking a 36.2% decline from February 2024. Meanwhile, DAP offtake plummeted 67.9% to 40 thousand tonnes over the same period.

Fertilizer Production & Imported Supplies

Total domestic fertilizer production in February 2025 was 644 thousand tonnes, including 447 thousand tonnes of urea and 52 thousand tonnes of DAP.

Production of other products i.e., CAN, NP, SSP, NPK and SOP was 69, 62, 3.8, 6.1 and 4.4 thousand tonnes, respectively.

Imported fertilizer supplies stood at 4.2 thousand tonnes, mainly comprising 3.2 thousand tonnes of SOP and 0.9 thousand tonnes of MOP.

Supply & Demand Situation

Total urea availability in February 2025 was 887,000 tonnes, including a 441,000 tonne carryover from the previous month.

Urea offtake for the month was 347,000 tonnes, leaving a closing balance of 536,000 tonnes.

For DAP, total availability stood at 198,000 tonnes, including 146,000 tonnes of previous stock and 52,000 tonnes of new production.

DAP offtake was 40,000 tonnes, leaving a closing balance of 160 thousand tonnes.

Domestic Prices

The price of urea (Sona) and CAN decreased slightly by 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively, during February 2025 as compared with the previous month.

On the other hand, prices of urea (other) and DAP increased by 0.2% each.

The average price of urea (Sona), urea (other), and DAP was Rs4,515, Rs4,376, and Rs12,046 per 50 kg bag, respectively.

International Price Trends

In the international market, urea prices in China increased by $27.5 per tonne, while Arabian Gulf prices rose by $30 per tonne.

Urea prices were quoted as $237-268 and $420-445 per tonne FOB bulk for China and the Arabian Gulf, respectively.

DAP prices in Morocco increased by $11 per tonne, while prices in China remained stable. In February 2025, prices ranged from $600-645 per tonne of FOB bulk in Morocco and $620-635 per tonne of FOB bulk in China.

The ex-Karachi price of imported urea ranged between Rs4,704 and Rs7,979 per 50 kg bag, while imported DAP (Morocco) was priced between Rs11,024 and Rs11,764 per 50 kg bag

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