May-14 figures suggest recovery in monthly urea offtake

• As per NFDC figures released for May 2014, urea offtake has clocked in at 408k tons, down 16%YoY but up 58%MoM. Against this backdrop, urea offtake for 5M2014 has settled at 2,047k tons (down 4%YoY).
• Meanwhile DAP sales have clocked in 35%YoY and 185%MoM higher at 108k tons in May 2014 taking YTD 2014 DAP sales to 348k tons (up 27%YoY).
• Company-wise details of May 2014 urea offtake reveal an overall YoY mixed trend for local urea producers, where ENGRO and FFBL reported urea offtake of 138k tons (+13%YoY and +131%MoM) and 31k tons (+31%YoY and +7%MoM), respectively.
• On a monthly basis urea offtake figures reveal an overall positive trend for local producers: FFC (+38%MoM) and FATIMA (+545%MoM).

Urea offtake for May 2014 (-16%YoY and +58%MoM)

As per NFDC figures released for May 2014, urea offtake has clocked in at 408k tons, down 16%YoY but up 58%MoM. The YoY decline in urea offtake is on account of lower imported urea sales this year amid expectations of one time price reduction so as to get rid of old inventory. Note that NFML’s sales were recorded at a mere 4k tons in May with a closing inventory of 410k tons. Against this backdrop, urea offtake for 5M2014 has settled at 2,047k tons (down 4%YoY). Resultantly, Pak urea inventory stood at 560k tons as of end-May 2014, where NFML holds 73% of the inventory. Meanwhile DAP sales have clocked in 35%YoY and 185%MoM higher at 108k tons in May 2014 taking YTD 2014 DAP sales to 348k tons (up 27%YoY).

Overall positive monthly urea offtake by local producers

Company-wise details for urea offtake in May 2014 revealed an overall YoY mixed trend for all local urea producers, where ENGRO and FFBL reported urea offtake of 138k tons (+13%YoY and +131%MoM) and 31k tons (+31%YoY and +7%MoM), respectively. However, MoM figures revealed an overall positive trend for local producers. Moreover, FFC and FATIMA witnessed sales of 218k tons (-10%YoY but +38%MoM) and 17k tons (-43%YoY and +545%MoM), respectively.

FATIMA’s other fertilizer offtake remained mixed, where CAN sales were recorded at 45k tons (-27%YoY but +218%MoM) and NP at 35k tons (+12%YoY and +496%MoM). Phosphate sales of FFBL also remained buoyant, where its DAP offtake clocked in at 64k tons (+18%YoY and +243%MoM).