LAHORE: Fertiliser manufacturers see perfect conditions for price hike of urea and Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) during the ongoing wheat season, and largely blame the government for this shortage. There were reports forecasting a debilitating shortage of DAP fertiliser during the Rabi season. However, the import data showed that currently DAP was stocked in sufficient quantities in the country’s warehouses. Instead, the market is likely to see shortage of urea, according to fertiliser manufacturers. DAP prices in Pakistan have begun to rise sharply and have already reached an average of Rs2,630/bag, due to shortage of domestic-stocks and elevated prices in the international market. Meanwhile, Punjab government has maintained that rise and fall in the price of DAP fertiliser was being witnessed as per trends in the international market. A spokesman of the provincial agriculture department said when provincial government announced subsidy on DAP in July 2017, its price was around Rs2,638-Rs2,670/bag. The spokesman has asked fertiliser marketing companies to ensure pasting of subsidy vouchers on DAP bags. He said that vouchers’ placement along the DAP bag would ensure transparency in the whole process. This step would also help in determining the quality of the fertiliser. He said the government has ordered an inquiry against the firms who were not following the instructions. Pakistan is the world’s 3rd largest wheat-growing country, harvesting 25.5 million tons of wheat annually ensuring national food-security. At this crucial stage, the availability of fertilisers is imperative to achieve maximum per acre yield of wheat and other essential crops. The fertiliser manufacturing companies in most cases have been making profits in spite of high cost of inputs; however, the stoppage of gas to three of the plants can dent the production of urea. Official of the Fertiliser Manufacturers of Pakistan Advisory Council’ (FMPAC) was not available for comment, but it has been learnt that the industry was considering the option of stopping urea sales during December if their outstanding subsidy claims were not paid by the end of November in accordance with the directives of the Prime Minister’s office. The manufacturers said that since the government failed to live up to its commitment of disbursing the long-delayed subsidy-claims, amounting to over Rs15 billion, the key players of the domestic fertiliser industry were facing major financial challenges. The Ministry of National Food-Security and Research (MNFS&R) has not been able to expedite the ‘withheld’ subsidy amounts payable to the fertiliser manufacturers. Fertiliser industry warned that it has long suffered due to the unfriendly policies, heavy taxation and excessive inventory-burden on locally produced urea. Hence, the financial crisis caused by continued delay in urea-subsidy, if not released, might lead to crises of unmanageable level, as there was hardly any time left to import the commodity.
