The government has planned to import 800,000 tonnes of urea fertilizer from Qatar under a state-level arrangement with a cost of around Tk3,200 crore for meeting the country’s demand for the current fiscal year.
As part of the yearly urea procurement plan from aboard, the Ministry of Industries will import the fertiliser from Chemical and Petro Chemical Marketing and Distribution Company (Muntajat) of Qatar.
According to an official document, as the prices of urea is now too low in the international market, the agriculture input from Qatar will be cheaper than the previous price.
A proposal of the Industries Ministry is likely to be placed before the cabinet committee on economic affair scheduled for today, said an official.
The cost of the imported fertiliser will be of Tk40,000 per tonne, but would be sold at Tk14,000 in the local market.
“Now, the stock of the country’s fertilizer is around 800,000 tonne and the demand for urea fertiliser will be increased in August because of paddy season,” BFA Chairman Qamrul Ashraf Khan told the Dhaka Tribune.
The country’s total yearly demand of urea is 2.7m tonnes, which comes from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company Ltd (KAFCO), Bangladesh and three other foreign countries – Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates while rest of the amount is procured through international tender.
