Most of the country鈥簊 fertiliser factories have been facing production losses and operating below full capacity due to gas crisis.
The crisis also leads many of the factories to remain without production several times a year, said the industry insiders.
Currently, seven fertiliser factories are being operated under the state-run Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation across the country. All but the newly built Ghorashal-Palash Fertiliser Factory are being operated below their capacity.
According to a BCIC official, the annual demand of the most-used urea fertiliser in the country is about 26 lakh tonnes.
Industry insiders said that halting production during the peak fertiliser production season between October and March could hinder agricultural activities, increase import dependency, and even hike food inflation.
In the backdrop of the crisis, the government聽on Wednesday approved a聽proposal to import 40,000 tonnes of bulk granular urea fertiliser from SABIC Agri-Nutrients Company in Saudi Arabia.
Although the Ghorashal-Palash Fertiliser Factory produces 10 to 11 lakh tonnes of urea per year, the other factories can produce about 2 to 5 lakh tonnes, leaving the country to import around 50 per cent of its urea demand.
Besides the Ghorashal-Palash factory, the four other factories have the capacity to produce over 20 lakh tonnes of urea, BCIC officials said, but they have not been able to meet that capacity over the years.
鈥楧ue to backdated machinery and consistent gas shortage, we cannot produce our targeted amount of fertiliser,鈥� a general manager of the BCIC said.
Among the seven factories under BCIC, five produce urea fertiliser, one produces Tri-Ammonium Phosphate, and the other produces Di-Ammonium Phosphate.
Currently, two government urea factories, Ashuganj Fertiliser and Chemical Company Limited in Brahmanbaria and Jamuna Fertiliser Company Limited in Jamalpur, are now closed due to gas crises. The factories can annually produce 528,000 tonnes and 561,000 tonnes of urea, respectively.聽
Moreover, after remaining closed for more than six months due to the gas crisis, Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Limited in Chattogram鈥簊 Anwara upazila resumed full-scale urea production on November 2.
The BCIC official said that they had a plan to resume operations of the Jamuna on November 15 or later.
A deputy general manager of the BCIC said that the Jamuna and Ghorashal-Palash factory were both operated by the gas supplied by聽Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution PLC.
鈥楧ue to gas shortage, the Titas Gas cut connection to Jamuna to supply the gas to Ghorashal-Palash factory, which produces a large amount of the fertiliser,鈥� he added.
According to the factory sources, uninterrupted urea production at fertiliser factories requires a daily gas pressure of 42 to 43 PSI.
According to Petrobangla, the country鈥簊 urea factories need 329 million cubic feet of gas a day.
The GM of the BCIC said that they continuously urged the government to improve the gas supply to the fertiliser factories.
鈥業f the machinery can be upgraded and we get the required supply of gas, we can reach close to our target and reduce dependency on imports,鈥� he added.
According to the BCIC, Bangladesh imported over 20 lakh tonnes of urea in the financial year 2022-23. The amount fell to over 17 lakh tonnes in FY24 and over 16 lakh tonnes in FY25, thanks to an increase in local production.
BCIC officials feared that imports could again reach about 15-16 lakh tonnes at the end of FY26.
According to the World Bank鈥檚 WITS,聽Bangladesh typically imports urea from countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, China, Egypt, Germany, Tunisia, Morocco, and Canada.
Recently, at a public hearing organised by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission on the hike in gas prices, BCIC鈥簊 director (planning and implementation), Md Delwar Hossain, said that gas supply must be ensured to fertiliser factories to help farmers.聽
鈥楿rea production has been declining since 2007-08 financial year when the 鈥榞as rationing system鈥� was initiated amid the gas shortage. Before that year, the local production was around 18 lakh tonnes,鈥� he added.
He also said that, in FY25, local urea production stood at about 10 lakh tonnes, of which 80 per cent came from the Ghorashal-Palash factory, leaving the other factories to produce only 2 lakh tonnes.
鈥楾he import dependency has increased manifold, and a huge amount of foreign currency is going abroad because of this,鈥� he added.
According to market information, the price of urea is now Tk 27 per kg (including the government subsidy), meaning Tk 1,350 per 50-kg sachet and Tk 27,000 per tonne.