MULTAN Aug 21: When the country’s farming community is facing an acute shortage of urea fertilizer a sizable quantity is being consumed by the textile sector, Dawn has learnt from well-placed sources.

If true, this is a perfect case of subsidy not reaching the target as the subsidised urea is meant for the agriculture and not the industry.

A fertiliser dealer told Dawn that a large quantity of urea was being supplied from Multan to the textile processing units in Lahore,

Karachi and Faisalabad, where it is being used as a chemical to improve lustre, printing, bleaching of cloth and for thickening the yarn.

He estimated that about 25 to 30 per cent of total urea production was being smuggled out for use by the industry, which has led to create an acute shortage of the commodity.

“Now the stockists prefer to sell it to the textile pro-

cessing units at a little higher price instead of selling it in black market and getting exposed to the risk of raids on their godowns,” he said.

The dealer said that the stockists from the textile industry were purchasing the commodity in bulk amid apprehensions that the price would further increase in coming days.

He said that the textile sector was purchasing the subsidised fertiliser from open market paying Rs100 to 150 extra per bag against buying directly from the manufacturers, who would charge them the actual price.

He said that the government had announced to import 250,000 tons urea by the end of June this year but only 50,000 tons had been imported till today.

The banks financing to the fertiliser dealers is the real reason behind the shortage problem because the banks’ finance has enhanced the storage capacity of the stockists, who were purchasing the fertiliser in bulk for the hoarding purpose.

A fertiliser supplier to textile mills in Karachi said that after the stocks of urea were exhausted in the city he contacted the dealers in other cities including Multan.

He said that due to the increasing prices of chemicals used for shining, printing, bleaching of cloth the textile sector started using fertiliser for last two years.

However, the former chairman All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association Shabir Ahmed has denied the use of fertiliser as chemical and said that other chemicals were being used for export quality products. He admitted that the fertiliser might be used for local quality products.

General Secretary All Pakistan Bedsheet Association Taj

Din Mansha said that he had some information about the use of the fertiliser in the textile industry but he was not sure for what purpose it was being utilised.