Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Thursday afternoon that 50,000 tonnes of fertilizer from China would arrive on February 10.
In a tweet, he mentioned that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet had approved the import of 1.5 Million Tonnes (MT) of fertilizer from China.
The Ministry of Industries and Production had earlier tabled a summary for the import of urea from China by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP).
ECC after deliberation allowed the import of 50,000 MT of urea from China on an immediate basis subject to clearance from the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA). TCP was also tasked to negotiate the price with a Chinese supplier authorized by the government of China for further import of urea.
“The first ship of 50,000 tonnes of fertilizer would arrive on February 10. (Around) 600,000 tonnes of local fertilizer would also start coming in the market during the current month,” he tweeted.
He assured that despite the high prices in the world market, Pakistan’s farmers will not face its shortage.
On December 24, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar while chairing a fertilizer review meeting had asked the fertilizer industry to increase urea supplies by 30 percent countrywide to ease down the market, besides directing the Petroleum Division to assure gas supply to urea plants according to revised supply priority orders.
The minister, while stating that up to 20,000 MT production of urea daily was reported on an average, had advised farmers to not engage in panic buying and register complaints of overcharging and hoarding in their locality.
On December 31, the Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research had noted that gas supply disruption to fertilizer plants during the June-September period had caused a shortage of 200,000 tonnes of urea.
The parliamentary committee had observed that supplies had been affected as urea plants were non-operational between June 28 and September 16 despite ECC orders to keep plants operational from March to November, lamenting that the situation would result in hoarding, an artificial shortage, and price hikes.
