KARACHI: The urea offtake declined 12 per cent to 574,000 tonnes during January 2022, compared with 649,000 tonnes during the same month of 2021.

The combined offtake of Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC) and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL) surged 17 per cent to 258,000 tonnes, while Fatima Fertilizer (FATIMA) recorded a jump of 31 per cent to 100,000 tonnes in January.

Engro Fertilizer (EFERT) urea sales plunged 47 per cent clocking-in at 185,000 tonnes, compared with the same month of the previous year.

On a sequential basis, urea offtake depicted a drop of 4 per cent. “The fall in sales comes on the back of reduction in the availability of urea due to lower inventory level,” Muhammad Iqbal at Arif Habib Limited said.

The cumulative sales of FFC and FFBL recorded a decline of 2 per cent, EFERT witnessed a decline of 3 per cent on a month-on-month basis, while FATIMA reported an uptick of 2 per cent on a month-on-month basis.

The DAP sales registered a growth of 43 per cent on a year-on-year basis and one per cent on sequential basis reaching 117,000 tonnes during January 2022, amid seasonality factor followed by the higher inventory level of DAP.

FFC and FFBL’s DAP sales were 68,000 tonnes portraying a massive surge of 4 times owing to the adequate gas supply to FFBL, which ensured the availability of DAP during the month.

The FFC and FFBL’s DAP offtake plummeted 17 per cent, whereas EFERT’s DAP sales during January witnessed a drop of 14 per cent, while displaying a two times sequential growth to clock-in at 23,000 tonnes.

“The closing inventory of urea with local producers at the end of January 2022, stood at 20,000 tonnes, as compared to 71,000 tonnes in December 2021. Further, the inventory position of DAP is set at 105,000 tonnes towards the end of January 2022,” Iqbal added.