Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday chaired a meeting to review the supply of urea in country and also the quantum of import of fertiliser to meet the shortfall which is likely to be more than half a million tones this year. The meeting, held here at the Prime Minister House, was apprised of the shipment of urea from other countries which is in the pipeline and is likely to reach the Pakistani ports during the current month or early next month.
The Prime Minister directed that arrangements must be made for the supply of sufficient quantity of fertiliser to the growers at competitive prices in the month of December because of its criticality to achieve the target of wheat production. It may be pointed out that urea is urgently required after the first watering of wheat plants.
The Prime Minister also directed that the benefits of the subsidy by the government should go to the growers and not to the middlemen or the mill owners who tend to make huge profits in such situations when demand exceeds supply. It was also decided in the meeting that the retail price of each bag should be written on it in order to deny the profiteers a chance to make money by playing on the fear of the growers.
It was also decided to supply the maximum possible quantity of gas to the most efficient fertiliser plants aimed at narrowing down the gap between the demand and supply in the domestic market. The meeting was attended by Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Minister for Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain, Advisor for Ministry of Industries and the senior officials of the relevant ministries.