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Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) fears Tk 7,000 loss in selling each tonne of urea fertiliser if it is forced to pay Tk 16 for per cubic metre of gas from the existing rate of Tk 4.45, official said.
The corporation said it sells fertiliser to dealers at the government-fixed rate, which is much lower then the production cost.
Between the fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 and FY 2021-22, the BCIC faced trade gap worth some Tk 25.27 billion due to selling fertiliser at subsidised rates.
The corporation presently runs four fertiliser factories - Shahjalal Fertiliser Company Ltd, Jamuna Fertiliser Company Ltd, Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd, and Ashuganj Fertiliser and Chemical Company Ltd.
These four factories in FY 2020-21 used a total of 44,080 mmcf gas and in FY 2022-23 used 26,474 mmcf gas to produce fertilisers.
Officials said the Energy Division, in a letter in May, asked the BCIC to pay gas price dues worth Tk 12.11 billion.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Industries, in a recent letter to the Energy Division, said the BCIC would not be able to pay back the dues unless the Finance Division provides it some Tk 25.27 billion that was created as trade gap for selling fertiliser at subsidised rate.
The fertiliser factories under the BCIC are facing severe liquidity crisis, failing to get subsidy from the government, it added.
Sources said an informal meeting was held at the Cabinet Division last month in presence of the cabinet, finance, industries, and agriculture secretaries.
The Ministry of Industries and the BCIC get money for trade gap from the Finance Division through the Ministry of Agriculture.
The meeting decided that the BCIC would gradually pay the gas bill dues to the Energy Division after getting money from the Finance Division.
Officials said the BCIC-run urea factories can meet a nominal portion of the country's total fertiliser need.
Every year the government needs to spend a huge sum to import fertilisers from abroad to meet the local demand and also pays a substantial amount as fertiliser subsidy.
syful-islam@outlook.com