Urea sales decline 74pc in October

'Massive dip in off-take is due to pre-buying by farmers/dealers, given the increase in urea prices in Sept'

Urea sales for the month of October 2019 are expected to decline by 74pc to 122,000 tonnes, as compared to the same month of last year.

Similarly, on a monthly basis, industry urea sales are expected to decrease by 70pc in Oct 2019, when compared with Sept 2019.

According to data available with this scribe, the massive decline in urea offtake is due to pre-buying by farmers/dealers given the increase in urea prices in the previous month.

Urea sales are expected to be recorded at 4.5 million tonnes during the first 10 months of 2019, down by a nominal 2pc compared with 4.6 million tonnes in the same period of 2018.

Total urea inventory is expected to clock at around 800,000 tonnes.

Among the companies, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL) is anticipated to post the highest decline of 81pc YoY in its urea off-takes, followed by Fauji Fertilizer Limited (FFC) and Engro Fertilizer (EFERT) which are projected to post a decline of 77pc (47,000 tonnes) and 69pc (44,000 tonnes), respectively.

Imported urea offtake is predicted at 6,000 tonnes during the month of Oct 2019.

Urea production in Oct 2019 is expected to decline by 7pc majorly due to a decrease in the production of FFC by 10pc to 200,000 tonnes, compared with 221,000 tonnes in the same month of last year.

Total DAP sales are anticipated to be recorded at 205,000 tonnes in Oct 2019, down 61pc when compared with Oct 2018. For the first 10 months of the ongoing year, DAP sales are expected to decline by 23pc to 1.4 million tonnes.

Company-wise, EFERT is expected to record sales of 71,000 tonnes, followed by FFBL with 50,000 tonnes and FFC with 26,000 tonnes.

Total DAP inventory is projected at around 680,000 tonnes.

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