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The Ministry of Agriculture has determined that Bangladesh will need about 6.84 million tonnes of 11 different types of fertiliser, including urea and DAP, for the upcoming 2023-24 fiscal year.
The country has spent about Tk 150 billion on the fertiliser subsidy in the ongoing fiscal year, said Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque on Monday, following a briefing of an advisory committee to the ministry on fertiliser.
“The actual demand for fertiliser at the grassroots level was a bit higher, but we set the amount slightly lower after our calculations.”
Bangladesh has set the demand for urea at 2.7 million tonnes and the demand for DAP at 1.6 million tonnes, the demand for MOP at 900,000 tonnes, and the demand for TSP at 750,000.
It is possible to produce nearly all of the urea fertiliser domestically given the current capacity of the BCIC and if the necessary gas supply is provided, Razzaque said.
“If the gas is bought at the current price on the world market, the production of fertiliser will be profitable,” he said. “We want the entire demand for urea fertiliser to be met through domestic production at the least.”
It is difficult to estimate how much the government has spent on the fertiliser subsidy at this time, the minister said.
“We cannot say exactly before the year ends. However, according to our latest estimates, Tk 150 billion was spent on fertiliser and another Tk 110 billion has been allocated. But we will only know at the end of the year how much we have spent on the subsidy.”
Regarding the rice market, Razzaque said that prices can rise even if there is sufficient supply if demand is high.
“However, if we have sufficient fertiliser, there should be no problem with the rice price.”
The rice price is currently trending down as the demand has fallen, he said.
“I was present at a meeting with many mill owners yesterday. All of them are worried because the sale of rice has dropped. The price has also fallen by Tk 2-4. If the production is sufficient under these circumstances, the price will not rise.”
The Ministry of Agriculture’s companies have no outstanding bills to the Ministry of Power and Energy, Razzaque claimed in response to a question from the media.