KARACHI: Pakistan’s urea sales remained stagnant in 2018 at 5.8 million tons. Cumulative Fauji Fertilizer (FFC) and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL) urea sales during 2018 posted a 1.0 percent increase to 3.1 million tons. Engro Fertilizer (EFERT) urea offtake posted an 11 percent growth to 2.0 million tons during 2018. FATIMA group’s sales declined by 12 percent to 589,000 in 2018.

Provisional fertilizer offtake for the month of December 2018 indicates that urea sales witnessed a meager decline of 1.0 percent YoY to 709,000 tons while this figure is up by 43 percent MoM.

In particular, Fauji Fertilizer (FFC) and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL)’s cumulative urea offtake recorded a decline of 25 percent YoY to 326,000 tons in December 2018 while surged by 31 percent on a MoM basis.

Likewise, Engro Fertilizer (EFERT)’s urea offtake jumped up by 12 percent YoY and 3.0 percent MoM to 209,000 tons during December 2018. Finally, FATIMA’s sales escalated by a stunning 23 percent YoY and 44 percent MoM in December 2018 to 110,000 tons.

DAP sales depicted a 17 percent YoY increase to 175,000 tons while this figure is down by 34 percent MoM in December 2018. Whereas during full year 2018, DAP sales showed a 7.0 percent increase to clock-in at 2.2 million tons.

On a company specific basis, DAP offtake of FFC and FFBL arrived at 105,000 tons in December 2018, translating into a YoY increase of 9.0 percent while down by 12 percent MoM. During 2018, offtake for DAP of FFC and FFBL declined by 14 percent to 714,000 tons. On the other hand, EFERT’s DAP sales registered a decline of 29 percent YoY and 73 percent MoM in December 2018 to 22,000 tons. However, during 2018 EFERT posted a solid growth of 15 percent to 602,000 tons

By the end of 2018, closing inventory of urea with local producers stood at 78,000 tons while imported urea inventory is 85,000 tons. Meanwhile, DAP inventory position is 588,000 tons in the same period.