LAHORE: Industry officials on Tuesday warned the recent rise in gas prices for the fertilizer sector could push urea prices up to Rs128 per kg and impact the profitability of domestic farmers and overall agriculture.
A spokesman for Fertilizer Manufactures of Pakistan Advisory Council (FMPAC) said, “The fertilizer industry is already suffering on account of subsidy of Rs20 billion, withheld by the government,” reports The News.
The FMPAC spokesman added the profits had touched their lowest ebb in the last six years irrespective of record revenues attained by major players.
Furthermore, the FMPAC spokesman shared governments globally were responsible for safeguarding and helping local industries to create more employment opportunities and decrease their import bills.
According to the spokesman, “The government should provide relief through adjustment in GIDC (gas infrastructure development cess) and other taxes to fertiliser sector, offering a competitive advantage vis-a-vis international market, thus supporting local farmers through affordable prices.”
The spokesman said Pakistan should devise an ingenious tax regime to foster its agriculture sector, whilst bolstering the supply of basic inputs like fertilizer.
In response to gas supply resumption to closed fertilizer plants, the spokesman shared because of gas supply restoration, Agritech had restarted urea production in the constituency of Prime Minister Imran Khan whilst Fatimafert was going to restart production soon.
He said, “The gesture of government especially the ministries of industries and production, and finance and petroleum, in this regard is appreciated by all and sundry.”
Also, the FMPAC spokesman said the scarcity of domestic gas and high prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Pakistan had created major challenges for this sector, which was a major revenue contributor to the country’s national exchequer.
He regretted that a lack of support for domestic production could result in urea shortage, compelling costly imports and volatility in prices.
And he highlighted that gas supply to manufacturers from Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) remained highly unpredictable, which was causing major disruptions and shut-downs in the production of these entities contributing to heavy financial losses.
