LAHORE: The continuous rise in prices of urea is inflicting Rs30-40 billion losses annually to the farmers collectively as retail prices range around Rs1,600 across Pakistan.
The retail prices have jacked up significantly since October-November 2017 and in last eight months the price of urea fertilizer has witnessed a 30 percent rise or hike of Rs250-350 per bag compared to above-mentioned months when it stood at Rs1,250-1,300, reported The News.
According to an evaluation, a rise in prices of Rs100 per bag in a year would translate to Rs12 billion additional spending on fertilizer.
On an annual consumption basis, the financial impact on farmers is projected to be between Rs30-40 billion.
It has been a double-edged sword for the farmers as diammonium phosphate (DAP) prices rose in conjunction with urea rates.
In the Rabi season, DAP was selling at Rs2,600-2,800 per bag and currently, its prices had risen to Rs3,300 translating to a Rs500-700 increase.
Farmer Associated Pakistan life member Farooq Bajwa stated he had procured urea a few days back at an exorbitant price of Rs1,650 per bag in Bahawalpur district.
Mr Bajwa shared prices of DAP fertilizer bag stood over Rs3,330 per bag which was too expensive for a farmer like him.
He added he preferred using NPK instead of Dap because the latter was a preferable option in water shortage as it didn’t need immediate watering.
Discussing the rising cost of inputs, Mr Bajwa accused fertilizer manufacturers expeditiously raising urea prices and claimed the caretaker government hadn’t expressed any interest in reining this price escalation of this major agriculture input.
He blamed the muffled Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) which was behaving as a silent spectator in this respect.
However, an inside revealed fertilizer manufacturers had been given full freedom in fixing urea prices and some manufacturers had jacked up prices to around Rs1,800 a few years ago because of non-availability of gas.
As the gas shortage issue was resolved, these manufacturers maintained selling urea at higher price points for a specific period.
The non-uniform cost of gas permitted several manufacturers to keep on selling urea at higher rates notwithstanding the lower cost of manufacturing, said the FAP member.
But an official of National Fertilizer Development Centre (NFDC) admitted urea price had been increased up by Rs1,550-1,600 per bag across Pakistan.
This is a major hike in price compared to Rs1,250 price increase posted during October-November 2017 and shared imported urea was being sold at Rs1,000 per bag during that period.
A federal government official declining to be named shared average urea price in the country on June 13th, 2018 stood at Rs1,500 per bag compared to Rs1,250 per bag in November 2017.
