ISLAMABAD  -  Engro Fertilizers, Pakistan’s premier seed-to-harvest solu­tions provider, achieved record urea production of 2.3 million tonnes in 2023 to support the government’s efforts of ensur­ing affordable and abundant supplies for the farmers.

The company was able to achieve this feat and continued to play a pivotal role towards enabling the food security of Pakistan, amidst the headwinds of tough macroeconomic con­ditions, imposition of a higher super tax and gas price hikes. Engro Fertilizers was addition­ally affected by steep rupee de­valuation as its 950,000 tons Base Plant is supplied gas under Petroleum Policy 2012 pricing, which is dollar-pegged due to its linkage with crude oil rate.

According to the latest an­nual results, Engro Fertilizers urea production surged by 18.3 percent compared to the year 2022 (1.95 million tons) due to improved operational perfor­mance of both EnVen and Base Plants. Consequently, the com­pany’s urea sales witnessed an uptick by 20.3 percent to reach 2.32 million tons, while its mar­ket share also increased to 35 percent. “The local fertilizer in­dustry has ensured that farmers continue to benefit from lower domestic urea prices. The maxi­mum retail price (MRP) of urea stood at PKR 3,596/bag at year end, at a discount of 40 percent to international prices. This delta constitutes a contribution of approximately PKR 330 bil­lion per annum towards farmer income in Pakistan,” said a com­pany statement. The industry is also engaging dealers to sup­port government’s initiatives to curb urea hoarding for market price manipulation, bolstering crop productivity, and farmer profitability.

In 2023, the robust domestic urea manufacturing industry enabled import substitution to the tune of USD 2.3 billion, in­cluding Engro Fertilizers’ share of USD 835 million. Further, in 2023, the company contributed nearly PKR 34.7 billion towards the national exchequer by way of government taxes, duties, and levies, compared to PKR 11.6 billion last year. On a con­solidated basis, Engro Fertiliz­ers posted a profit after tax of PKR 26.2 billion with earnings per share (EPS) of PKR 19.61 in 2023, mainly on the back of in­creased production from long-term reliability projects, cost optimization, efficient working capital management and higher interest income.

To sustain domestic urea pro­duction levels and safeguard the food security of Pakistan, Engro Fertilizers and other ma­jor fertilizer manufacturers are investing heavily in Gas Pres­sure Enhancement Facilities (PEF) project. The expected share of Engro Fertilizers’ capi­tal expenditure in this project is over USD 100 million.