Minister for Industries and Production Khusro Bakhtiar has ruled out the shortage of urea in the country, assuring additional supplies will be started from Monday next.
Flanked by Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar and the fertilizer companies’ owners, he was addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Friday.
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The minister pointed out that at present about 350000 bags of urea were being produced on daily basis which will be enhanced to four hundred and forty thousand bags from tenth of this month.
He said two million bags of urea had been procured from China and if the need arises, more procurement will also be made.
Bakhtiar said additional urea stocks of 4.4 million bags and 8.2 million bags will be available in the months of February and March respectively.
The minister said the government was providing subsidy of Rs400 billion to the farmers on urea. He said that the price of urea bag in the international market was Rs11000 per bag whilst in Pakistan it was Rs1800 per bag.
#Live: Federal Minister for Industries and Production, Makhdum Khusro Bakhtiar addressing a news conference in #Islamabad https://t.co/Vb5NoFiA79
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The farmers to refrain from panic buying and purchase the fertilizer as per their requirement, Bakhtiar added.
In his remarks, Minister for Energy Azhar said uninterrupted gas was being supplied to the fertilizer plants. He said the year 2021 saw record production of urea due to the constant gas supply to the fertilizer plants.
The government was providing gas to the fertilizer plants at reduced rates as a result of which urea prices were lower in Pakistan than the international market, he added.
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Speaking on the occasion, representatives and owners of fertilizer companies lauded government for providing uninterrupted gas supply especially in winter and said that dealership rights will be cancelled if any of the dealers found involved in hoarding of urea.
