'No difficulty in timely import of fertiliser'
The government will not face any difficulty in timely import of fertiliser for the coming Boro season, Industries Minister Dilip Barua said yesterday.
“There's nothing to worry about. We'll have sufficient stock before the Boro season,” he told the news agency at his office in the evening.
He hoped that the success of the last three years in fertiliser distribution would continue in the coming years, too.
Regarding a question on L/C (Letter of Credit) for fertiliser import, he said, “Banks are opening L/Cs. So, required fertiliser will be imported in time.”
The government has a stock of 788,854 metric tonnes of urea (till November 15) while it had 469,635 metric tonnes of urea stock on the same day in 2010, according to sources at the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC).
The government has so far imported 549,705 metric tonnes of urea till November 2011, said a senior BCIC official.
On November 3, Barua in a letter to Finance Minister AMA Muhith said state-owned banks have refused to open Letters of Credit (L/Cs) for the import of fertiliser as their dues have not been paid.
The letter said dues of three banks -- Sonali, Janata and Krishi -- on account of fertiliser import stood at Tk 3,280 crore till October 9.
Regarding the letter, Barua said, “It was part of our official work. The banks are opening L/Cs for fertiliser import.”
The demand for urea fertiliser in the current fiscal is 30 lakh tonnes, of which 20 lakh tonnes are being imported, the ministry sources said.
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