October 25, 2018 (MLN): DAP (Di-Ammonium Phosphate) sales during April-September 2018 have declined by 9.6%, when compared to the offtake in the same period last year.
Official data released by National Fertilizer Development Centre (NFDC) has shown that DAP offtake during the six months of current Kharif season has dropped from 992.7 thousand to 897 thousand tons.
Of these 897 thousand tons, around 199 thousand tons were sold in the month of September alone. The DAP sales for the month have dropped by an even larger margin of 43%, as compared to sales in September 2017.
Out of the 199 thousand tons sold in September, the largest quantity of DAP was sold in Punjab as the offtake was recorded at 152 thousand tons in the province. On the other hand, only 4200 tons of DAP was sold in Baluchistan, which was the smallest quantity sold in any province.
Therefore, the largest decline in DAP usage among all province was reported for Baluchistan as it consumed 63% lesser as compared to consumption in September 2017. Sindh on the other hand witnessed the smallest decline in consumption, as it dropped by 29%. 33 thousand tons of DAP was sold in the province.
While domestic production of DAP in the month of September 2018 was 76.2 thousand tons, the leftover from the previous month of about 614 thousand tons, and an import of 238 thousand tons meant that a total of 928 thousand tons of DAP were available to be used. Since total consumption in September was 482 thousand tons, a total of 114.6 thousand tons will be available to be used at a later date.
