ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, which met here Thursday with Finance minister, Shaukat Tarin, in the chair, approved Rs 12.34 billion for import of urea from China .
Sources said the government has already ordered import of 0.1 million tons of urea from China and its first shipment is scheduled to reach Karachi by end of the current month.
China had offered urea to Pakistan at subsidized rates.The urea price in international market is around $ 800 per ton, but Beijing offered to provide urea to Pakistan at $ 675 a ton.
Despite import of urea at subsidized rates, one bag of the fertilizer weighing 50 kg will cost around Rs 7500 and it will be sold out to the farmers at Rs 1767 . This equation is very simple to understand that the government will bear roughly Rs 6000 difference as subsidy to provide the fertilizer to the growers at fixed rates.
There are many questions on import of urea at this stage when the growers have already missed the opportunity to use this fertilizer for wheat crop. Second, why Pakistan turned into a urea importing country?
NEWSMAN spoke to the experts on the issue to reach to the bottom of the matter. This exercise suggested that
Pakistan turned into a urea importing country for two reasons. First , the government decision of suspending gas to the fertilizer industry from August to September in 2021 resulted in less production of the fertilizer ahead of wheat sowing season . Second, what ever urea stock was available in the domestic market its considerable quantity was smuggled to Afghanistan . The Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) government remained oblivious to urea smuggling to Afghanistan. Now its a common man who will pay the price as the import of urea will suck roughly Rs 25 billion of tax money. Had the government taken the case of urea smuggling in time it could have saved Rs 25 billion being spend on import of urea .