KARACHI, June 17: The sales of urea during January-May 2005 witnessed a growth of 44 per cent to 1.885 million tons, while the off-take of DAP rose by 42 per cent to 0.203 million tons, according to latest figures released by National Fertilizer Development Corporation (NFDC).

Total off-take of urea during May 2005 witnessed an increase of 27.9 per cent to 401,000 as against 314,000 during the corresponding period of last year. The unprecedented increase in urea off-take was attributed by analysts to sowing of cotton crop, tight demand supply situation and expected increase in urea prices in consideration of feedstock gas price increase of 12.5 per cent from July 2005.

The figures also revealed that during the month of May, the DAP off-take surged by 45 per cent. The total off-take of DAP stood at 68,000 as compared to 35,000 during the comparable period last year. The average prices of urea at dealers’ level remained at its almost previous level of Rs484 per bag during the month. However, the company price for urea remained fixed at Rs470 per bag. Domestic prices of DAP increased by Rs6 per bag to Rs1,020 per bag in May 2005. The total nutrient off-take, during May 2005, stood at about 267,000 - a significant increase of 35 per cent over May 2004.

During May 2005, the total urea production stood at 420,000 against 338,000 in April 2005. Increase in urea production was mainly due to the restoration of urea production by Engro Chemicals which was closed in April due to annual planned shutdown. The total DAP available during the month was 233,000 of which 44,000 was locally produced by Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL). The YTD urea production was 1,874,000 tons, which is 11 per cent higher than the same period last year. There were no arrivals of imported urea, however, 218,000 tons were expected to arrive by July to ease the demand supply situation.