Fertiliser sales up 35pc to 834,000 tons in August

KARACHI: Fertiliser sales increased 35 percent year-on-year to 834,000 tons in August as monsoon improved the nutrient’s consumption in crops amid price stability, a brokerage reported on Thursday.

Urea sales for August increased 45 percent year-on-year to 624,000 tons. Urea sales stood at 431,000 tons in the corresponding month a year earlier.

“This jump in sales volumes can be attributed to a good monsoon season this year, which pushed fertiliser sales as a whole,” Mustafa Zamin, an analyst at Taurus Securities said, citing data from the National Fertilizer Development Centre. “More stable fertiliser prices during August also provided cushion in better off-takes.”

In August, sales of diammonium phosphate (DAP) rose to 105,000 tons from 79,000 tons in the corresponding month a year earlier as “timely and good monsoon season contributed to uptick in sales,” Zamin added.

“Urea inventory stood well above the 200,000 tons strategic mark,” he added. “For August, urea stock stood at 324,000 tons, down 15 percent month-on-month. DAP stock stood at 418,000 tons, a marginal increment of one percent month-on-month.”

Fatima Fertilizer and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL) outshone other players in terms of growth in sales of urea during the last month due mainly to low-base effect. Fatima’s urea off-take jumped 1.4 times in August over the same month a year earlier, followed by FFBL (32pc), Engro Fertilizer (13pc) and Fauji Fertilizer Company (22pc).

DAP sales of FFC surged 2.3 times year-on-year to 18,000 tons in August, while DAP offtake of FFBL increased 1.7 times to 47,000 due to low-base effect. EFERT’s DAP sales fell 54 percent year-on-year last month.

In August, FFBL’s urea inventory rose 30 percent month-on-month to 30,000 tons.

FFC’s urea inventory fell 20 percent to 56,000 tons. National Fertilizer Corporation Limited’s inventory decreased 22 percent to 78,000 tons.

Fatima’s inventory declined nine percent to 38,000 tons.

EFERT’s DAP inventory dropped 80 percent year-on-year to 5,000 tons in August. FFC’s inventory fell 20 percent to 73,000. FFBL’s DAP inventory was up 14 percent to 233,000 tons.

Urea sales increased nine percent year-on-year to 3.978 million tons in January-August period. Urea offtakes stood at 3.656 million tons in the corresponding period a year earlier.

DAP sales decreased 10 percent year-on-year to 953,000 tons in the eight-month period. DAP offtakes stood at 1.063 million tons in the corresponding period a year earlier. Imported

DAP sales fell 16 percent to 605,000 tons in January-August.