Provincial Govts Asked to Take Strict Action Against Fertilizer Hoarders

Seeking to reduce the issues related to the supply of crop nutrients, Federal Minister for Industries and Production, Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar, chaired a high-level fertilizer review meeting today. The meeting discussed the urea supply and demand position in the country. It was brought to the attention of the Chair that different dealers had hoarded 4.5 lac tonne urea and gained an absorptive profit of Rs. 50 per bag of urea. The minister expressed grave concern over the hoarding of the essential commodity for farmers and asked the provincial governments to take strict action against hoarders and those engaged in black marketing of fertilizers. The minister stated that the incumbent government took all measures, including uninterrupted supply of gas to fertilizer plants to ensure well-timed availability of urea fertilizer to farmers at affordable prices, but the government would not tolerate market exploitation by fertilizer dealers, he added. He urged representatives of the fertilizer industry to blacklist such exploiters to smoothen the supply chain of urea countrywide. The minister said that the government is closely monitoring the distribution and supply of fertilizers to ensure soil nutrients are made available to farmers at affordable prices during rabi season. He also formed the task force committee to monitor the situation pertaining to the supply side, marketing balance, and regional diversion plan to fill the gap between the supply and demand of urea across the country. The meeting was also told that owning to the current stock of urea, the fresh consignment of 100,000 MT urea will be arriving in the first week of December in the country. The fertilizer manufacturers commended the positive role of the government in ensuring gas supplies to urea plants for production enhancement across the country. They reaffirmed that fertilizer manufacturers would support the government’s measures to protect the farmers in the supply chain of soil nutrients. The meeting was attended by Hammad Azhar, Minister for Energy, and Syed Fakhar Imam, Minister for Food Security and Research. Representatives of fertilizer manufacturers also participated in the meeting