Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) is arranging an import of 100,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser to give a blow to the hoarders and to overcome the possibility of its shortage during the cultivation of the paddy crop, sources told Pakistan Today on Thursday.
The corporation will import 50,000 tonnes of urea on urgent basis, through the private sector while another 50,000 tonnes of the fertiliser will be imported under the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) loan programme, sources said. Urea fertiliser is being imported to meet requirements for the cultivation of paddy crop in the country. From Friday (today), the TCP is inviting international bids from the importers to line-up 50,000 tonnes of urea to be delivered either within this month or by the first week of July, they said.
The corporation would give preference to those parties who would be able to supply the urea fertiliser in the current month, a senior official of TCP said. He said the TCP Chairman Anjum Bashir has held meetings with the officials of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this week to obtain urea on credit. The SFD officials have promised him that they would supply 50,000 tonnes of the fertiliser to Pakistan in July 2011.
Saudi Arabia has announced $100 million loan for Pakistan that would be used for the import of the fertiliser, said sources. According to sources, at present 120,000 tons of Urea is needed to meet cultivation requirement of paddy crop in the country. About 70,000 tonnes of urea is already available in the country, out of which about 40,000 tonnes had been hoarded by the profiteers that has led to an artificial shortage of the fertiliser at a time when the sowing of paddy crops is at its peak.
