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Shortage of fertilizers for kharif season

KOCHI: Severe shortage of chemical fertilizers is staring at Kerala in the coming kharif season with little carryover stocks from the previous season and reduced production of complex fertilizers in plants like the public sector Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore.

The spiralling price of inputs like sulphur forced FACT, key supplier of complex fertilizer factamfos in south India, to either entirely stop or reduce production over the last five months. While factamfos production came down by more than half, production of urea and ammonium sulphate had been entirely stopped at FACT.

The total fertilizer sale by FACT during the current financial year (up to February 29) stood at 5.95 lakh tonnes worth Rs. 631 crore compared to Rs. 900 crore during the last financial year.

Factamfos sale was the most seriously affected, the sales volume being just 4.62 lakh tonnes in comparison to 6 lakh tonnes the previous year. Traded and imported urea volume stood at 65,000 tonnes and ammonium sulphate sale stood at 56,000 tonnes.

What is of significance for the kharif season is the fact that there is very little carryover stock. Factamfos closing stock is just 2,800 tonnes, FACT sources said here. There are just 7,000 tonnes of all fertilizers put together in closing stock in place of the normal stock of around 1 lakh tonnes.

The fertilizer supply situation is expected to improve significantly if FACT re-starts production on March 15 as scheduled. The company shut down for annual maintenance works earlier than usual and is learnt to have placed orders for about 15,000 tonnes of sulphur in the first batch.

Sources said that sulphur was expected to arrive in Kochi later this week. If that happened, FACT was confident of re-starting fertilizer sales by the end of March or early April.

Though it was the spiralling price of sulphur that forced FACT to cut factamfos production, promise of nutrient-based subsidy has boosted the prospects of FACT having sufficient raw material.

The company’s working capital requirements will also be met by the release of Rs.200 crore sanctioned by the Committee of Secretaries within this month.

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