Govt to import 60,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser

The government's purchase committee yesterday gave clearance to the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) to import 60,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser at Tk 392 crore.

Of the quantity, BCIC will buy 30,000 tonnes of granular urea from Qatar under a state-to-state contract.

The state agency will buy the other half of granular fertiliser from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company Ltd (Kafco) at Tk 191 crore.

Last week, the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase gave the nod to the BCIC and Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation to buy 115,000 tonnes of fertiliser from two Middle Eastern countries to increase fertiliser stock for producing crops in coming seasons.

In September this year, the government granted clearance to the state agencies to import 90,000 tonnes of fertiliser from Qatar and Morocco under the state-to-state contract.

The agriculture ministry projects a requirement of 55.5 lakh tonnes of chemical fertiliser for fiscal 2022-23 and most of it would be met through imports because of inadequate domestic production.

State factories produce 10 lakh tonnes of urea and insignificant quantities of triple super phosphate (TSP) and diammonium phosphate. Farmers used over 55 lakh tonnes of fertiliser in fiscal 2021-22 and most of the demand was met through imports.