The government will have to pay about Tk 2,000 crore in additional cost for importing 9,50,000 tonnes of fertiliser due to lack of a timely decision this year.
Agriculture affairs adviser retired Lieutenant General Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, however, at a press conference at the secretariat in the capital on Thursday claimed that the government saved Tk 233.61 crore by breaking a long-standing syndicate in fertiliser imports through the private sector.
Private sector importers said that the government usually invited tenders for non-urea fertiliser in April鈥揗ay each year. Past year, the tender was floated in May.
However, this year, it was delayed until late June. For the 9,50,000 tonnes, contracts were awarded in two phases at the end of August and early September.
International prices of non-urea fertilisers increased sharply during the period when the government made delay in floating tenders, forcing the government to spend more than Tk 2,000 crore to import the fertiliser.
China鈥檚 DAP (diammonium phosphate) market showed that in March the price was $630鈥�635 a tonne but it rose to $670鈥�690 in May, and to $798鈥�801 in July.
When the ministry issued contracts in August, the price reached $848 a tonne鈥攁n additional $178 a tonne compared with that in May.
Similarly, prices of TSP (triple superphosphate) and MOP (muriate of potash) fertilisers rose by 20鈥�30 per cent in the same period.
Private importers said that the ministry failed to read international market movements, leading to the higher import prices of more than Tk 2,000 crore this year.
Secretary Emdad Ullah Mian at the press conference said that dependence on the private sector for imports was being reduced and government-to-government imports increased.
鈥榃e floated a tender. Previously, the rule was to award contracts to the lowest bidder, and imports were made at that price. But this time, for G2G imports, we set a reference price based on international market rates and negotiated accordingly. Through one such tender for 5,15,000 tonnes of fertiliser, the government saved Tk聽233 crore,鈥� he said.
