The country has to face shortage of 0.16 million tonnes of di ammonia phosphate (DAP) during the current Rabi season, which could hit the production target of different crops, including wheat, sources in fertiliser industry told Business Recorder.
They pointed out that with the start of Rabi crops sowing across the country, the demand for DAP would increase during the next month. Referring to the total stocks, including local production and imported DAP, they said the country would still be short of the commodity and could meet the rising DAP demand during the Rabi season.
They said that National Fertiliser Development Centre (NFDC), in its recent report, has also indicated that there will be some 20 percent shortage of DAP during the Rabi season.
About the 2007-08 Rabi season, they said the country would face shortfall of around 166,000 tonnes DAP, as its availability would be limited to around 699,000 tonnes against the demand of 865,00 tonnes. They said that the figures were based on the estimation of the domestic production, demands forecast and DAP imports, planned by the importers.
They said the Rabi season (from October 2007 to March 2008) had started with a balance of 255,000 tonnes of opening inventory and during the period, domestic production was expected about 136,000 tonnes. Keeping in view the expected import of the commodity, which stood at 308,000 tonnes during the same period, they said the total availability during this season would be 699,000 tonnes against the estimated demand of 865,000 tonnes.
They said that the first two months of the Rabi season - October and November - would show tremendous offtake, and warned that the DAP''s availability situation would not be satisfactory from November and the supply situation might be worsened during the December-March period.
According to the NFDC estimates, the DAP offtake during October is expected around 250,000 tonnes, followed by 300,000 tonnes in November; 110,000 tonnes during December; 60,000 tonnes during January; 55,000 tonnes during February and 90,000 tonnes in March 2007.
Market sources said that to meet the local demand during the Rabi season, over 200,000 tonnes of imported DAP would be needed with a view to helping the farmers to continue their cultivation, beside filling the remaining demand and supply gap. Other complimentary products such as MAP, SSP, NP and TSP would be available in the market to meet the emerging demand, they said.