Federal government is to import 0.330 million tons of urea through Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) from international open market under the instructions of deputy prime minister, sources close to Secretary Industries told Business Recorder.
Giving the background the sources said, on 3rd October, 2012, the ECC of the Cabinet under case No ECC-127/13/2012 approved import of 0.2 million tons under SABIC facility for Rabi season 2012-13. Consequently, an agreement was signed between TCP and Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) on December 17, 2012.
According to sources, SABIC due to their operational constraints and pre-commitments with other international buyers agreed to supply only 0.1 million tons during January-March 2013 for Rabi season 2013 and remaining balance of 0.1 million tons during April-December 2013. Schedule for shipment of 0.2 million tons from January-December 2013 is available with TCP which reported that SABIC supplied only 82,500 tons urea during January-March 2013 for Rabi season 2013.
The sources said a meeting was held under the chairmanship of Secretary Industries with all stakeholders including representatives of Ministries of Finance, Petroleum & Natural Resources, Food Security Research & Development, provinces and local fertiliser producers on 5th March, 2013.
The meeting reviewed urea fertiliser demand and supply situation for incoming Kharif season 2013. During the meeting the representatives of all four provinces gave their province-wise demand for urea fertiliser for Kharif season 2013 as follows: (i) Punjab – demand 1.944 million tons, Sindh – demand 0.60 million tons, KP – demand 0.20 million tons and Balochistan – demand 0.12 million tons. This implies total demand will be 2.864 million tons.
