Narinjara News
Bangladeshi fertilizer
for Burma
Dhaka, 12th March: Burma
will import one hundred thousand tons of urea fertilizer from Bangladesh
while it will export rice of corresponding value to Bangladesh, it was learnt from a number of newspapers and agencies of
news in Dhaka.
The Government of Bangladesh has proposed to sell off the surplus amount of
fertilizer in this regard to Burma.
It is expected that, the deal will be finalized when the Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Begum Khaleda Zia visits Rangoon
shortly. On the other hand the two Ministries of Trade of both the
countries will finalize the necessary formalities of the export-import
deal. The proposal of the deal has been forwarded to the relevant
authorities in Burma
who have been reportedly expressed their consent to work out all the details of
the agreement.
When the premiere of Bangladesh
visits Burma on
19th this month on a three day
tour, agreements on bilateral accounts trade, formalities in setting up of a
joint trade commission and completion of a coastal trading deal will be
finalized. At the same time a second and single-country Bangladesh Trade
Fair will be inaugurated in the capital Rangoon.
The proposed deal of the exchange of fertilizer with rice from Burma
will also be finalized then.
Bangladesh has
suffered a recent shortfall in its rice production: especially its late autumn
harvest fell far short of the expected output last year. The
proposed exchange of fertilizer with rice has been made to ward off the deficit,
the sources said. The government of Bangladesh
made inquiries to Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) whether
there would be any surplus production of fertilizer after meeting the local
demand in the present winter-season when the third and last harvest of rice is
made in a traditional solar year beginning in mid-April. BCIC informed
the government about its surplus of 100,000 tons of fertilizer in the present
rice season, due to the drop in the demand for fertilizer this year.
Though the demand for urea suddenly went up by the end of February, at least
100,000 tons of urea fertilizer would be sold less than the projected sales
target for this year, they said, besides the production of all the urea
fertilizer factories in the country are going on at full swing. As a
result a surplus production of 300,000 tons of urea fertilizer by the end of
the next fiscal year is expected even after the export to Burma
is made.
Before this in 1994 95 the government of Bangladesh
exported fertilizer to Burma,
which sparked off an acute fertilizer crisis in the country. The
export of fertilizer is going to be made from the Chittagong
Urea Fertilizer factory where there is a surplus production. At present
the price of a ton of the fertilizer is US$155 in the international market,
which is equal to taka 10,000 in the local Bangladeshi market. BCIC would
earn a profit of taka 520 million by exporting the same amount of fertilizer,
but the present foreign currency crisis in Burma
has forced the country to go for exchanging rice for fertilizer, it was
learnt.
Meanwhile the smuggling of urea fertilizer across the Naaf River
from Teknaf in Bangladesh
to Maungdaw on the western Burma
is so rampant that both the countries have practically failed to stop the
illegal traffic, which is also conducted by the time-honoured
bartering method. During the peak demand season of urea the sale recorded
stood at 354,562 ton against the expected sales target of 358,500 tons.
The winter rice had to be delayed this year for inclement weather compelling
the farmers to go for plantation by the end of February instead of January,
according to the Janakamtha, a Bengali paper.
Many of the traders have expressed their opinion that the demand for urea will
continue till April as the plantation season has been delayed. A high
official from BCIC said that the fertilizer factories across the country are
running at their full production capacity that will break the last ten years’
production record, which will increase the production beyond the set
target. For this reason the import of the fertilizer has been
drastically cut down. The target for this year’s import of urea was set
at 400,000 ton. But due to decreased demand the import has been
restricted to 300,000 tons, while about 260,000 tons of urea has already been
imported into Bangladesh,
he said. #