Gas for fertiliser plants for urea production: ECC may take up MoI's summary today

The Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet is expected to take up the summary of the Ministry of Industries for provision of gas to fertilizer industry to increase local production of urea for Rabi season, as planned import of 0.225 million tons urea from Saudi Arabia on deferred payment seems unlikely, it is learnt.
Sources said that decision to import 0.225 million tons urea from Saudi Arabia was taken by the ECC on December 8 and a committee was constituted to finalise the plan within a couple of days whether Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) or private sector could be involved in the import. Subsequently, manufacturers and importers were invited by the committee constituted by the ECC to submit their proposals who wanted that either the price of local urea be brought at par with the price of the imported commodity or they should be given subsidy of Rs 4.5 billion on account of price differential in the local and international market.
The government's plan to import 0.225 million tons of urea from Saudi Arabia on deferred payment was shelved after the reported refusal by Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Cooperation (SABIC). This led to submission of a summary by the Ministry of Industries to the ECC, proposing alternatives, with the request to approve it immediately to make available 0.225 million tons of urea to the local market for the Rabi season.
Various options, proposed by the Ministry of Industries as alternatives to import of urea, were not considered in the last meeting of the ECC, and it is being resubmitted for consideration in Tuesday's meeting. Provision of 30 days' gas to fertilizer industry has been proposed to increase domestic production of urea for the upcoming crop season.
The Ministry has proposed various alternatives to increase production of urea domestically, an official stated. He said that alternatives were also discussed with the stakeholders during a meeting on January 4, 2011. It was proposed that in the first scenario, gas load shedding reduction from 45 days to 15 days to the fertilizer industry would result in production of 250,000 million tons of urea and would reduce the cost by Rs 48 per bag.
The winter gas load shedding of 15 days, from 45 days to 30 days, from (Sui network) to industry will result in production of 150,000 tons of urea and would reduce per bag price by Rs 48. The delay in winter gas load shedding by one month will make available 250,000 tons of urea in the peak period, while restoration of 60 mmcfd gas to Mari-based plants for 30 days would produce 25,000 tons of urea and would reduce per bag price by Rs 38.