KARACHI: Urea sales rose sharply to 816,000 tonnes in August, up 46 per cent year-on-year and 34pc month-on-month, driven by aggressive discounting by select manufacturers and possible dealer pre-buying ahead of partial rollback in September.

Engro Fertilisers led the discount drive, offering an average price cut of Rs269 per bag during August — a portion of which was withdrawn at the start of September. The sales surge is also attributed to advance purchases by dealers taking advantage of the lower prices.

However, cumulative urea offtake during 8MFY25 declined by 10pc to 3.77 million tonnes compared to 4.21m tonnes in the same period last year, largely due to weaker farm economics.

According to Asad Ali of Topline Securities, urea closing inventory in Aug­ust stood at 1.06m tonnes, down from 1.23m tonnes in July.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2025