Fertilizer review committee apprises of urea availability

Jan 12, 2022: The fertilizer review committee meeting Wednesday apprised of urea availability, daily supplies status and local production of urea in the country.

It was noted that volume of urea supplies had been increased to 4 lac 40 thousand urea bags from 3 lac 42 thousand bags on daily basis during last week in keeping the demand of urea in view, said a press release issued here.

Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar and Federal Minister for Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam presided the fertilizer review committee meeting here.

Agricultural Provincial Ministers, Cheif Secretaries, CEOs of Fertiliser Manufacturers and Representatives of farmer body (Pakistan Kissan Ittehad) attended the meeting.

It was also briefed that timely actions by government have made a significant reduction in urea prices in recent week which has been declined to PKR 1850 close to the prescribed level of PKR 1,768/ bag as reported by PBS data.

Considering that Barani area demands more urea but in small quantity after raining spell, as well as, 100 pc cultivated area has been irrigated, it was instructed to Agriculture departments to coordinate with companies to ensure that all dealers located in Barani area receive urea supplies as per their requirement.

Likewise, Provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa has issued SOPs for DCOs for supply of urea from over-supplied area to deficient areas removing the inter-district anomalies.

In order to curb hoarding and profiteering, the Government of Punjab has identified some dealers/sub dealers engaged in malpractices and forwarded the cases to FMPAC for further punitive actions to check such events in future. Similarly, through anti-smuggling campaigns enforcement agencies seized 65,229 bags of urea from across border trafficking.

After extensive deliberations, it was decided to increase urea supplies to South Punjab and Sindh to meet the daily requirements according to agronomic practices. In addition to urea, the supply of Kane (substitute of urea) would also be increased by 2500-2600 MT on daily basis.

The Minister concluded the meeting with remarks that Ministry of Industries and Production along with Provincial governments and fertilizer industry is maintaining constant vigilance over the situation and in touch with the team on the ground and taking decisions accordingly.

He urged farmer body to educate the farmers about actual facts on urea availability so that farmers not indulge in panic buying of urea.

APP