Chittagong Correspondent:

The ongoing gas crisis in the country has affected the fertilizer production sector. Due to insufficient gas supply, production has been suspended indefinitely at the country's two largest urea fertilizer factories - Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) and Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company Limited (CAFCO) located in Anwara, Chittagong.

Factory sources said that gas supply to the two factories was stopped from last Wednesday afternoon on the instructions of the high-level government. As a result, the authorities were forced to suspend production activities. Those concerned said that the main raw material for urea fertilizer production is natural gas. Ammonia or urea production is not possible without gas combustion and chemical processes. Not only is it possible to have gas, a certain level of pressure is also required for production.

But currently, the gas pressure in the national grid has decreased so much that it is difficult to continue production in this situation and is risky for the equipment. According to statistics, CUFL produces about 1100 to 1200 tons of urea per day. On the other hand, the daily production capacity of the multinational company Kafco is about 1,725 ​​tons of urea and 1,500 tons of ammonia.

As a result, the country is deprived of about 3,000 tons of urea production every day due to the closure of the two factories. Those concerned fear that if production is stopped for a long time, dependence on fertilizer imports may increase.

Such production shutdowns are not new for the state-owned CUFL. The factory was reopened on November 1 last year after a long six-and-a-half-month shutdown. But even then, production has been repeatedly disrupted due to mechanical faults and irregular gas supply. This has also led to frustration among the workers.

On the other hand, the international standard fertilizer factory Kafco was also closed for about two weeks in October last year due to mechanical problems. This time, the national-level gas crisis has become a new obstacle to their production.

An engineer from Kafco's technical department said on condition of anonymity that running the plant at low pressure risks long-term damage to equipment worth crores of taka. Therefore, production has been suspended for safety reasons.

CUFL Managing Director Mizanur Rahman said that due to the gas crisis, the factory's production has been temporarily stopped on the instructions of the government. Production will be resumed when the gas supply is normal. In Bangladesh, the demand for urea fertilizer is high during the Rabi season and the preparation for the upcoming Aush and Aman cultivation. The fertilizer produced in these two factories in Chittagong is sent to buffer warehouses in different parts of the country and from there it reaches the farmers through dealers.

Agriculture-related people fear that if the gas supply is not normalized quickly, there may be a fertilizer crisis in the market. Alauddin, a farmer from Anwara area, said that if the fertilizer production in the factory is stopped, there is a risk of the fertilizer price in the market increasing. This will put the farmers in trouble. Meanwhile, sources at Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) said that regular communication is being maintained with gas supplier Petrobangla and the Ministry of Energy. There is a plan to provide gas to fertilizer factories on a priority basis if the LNG supply to the national grid increases.

According to experts, the instability in the country's energy sector has become a major challenge for the industry. The situation has become more complicated due to the slowdown in LNG imports due to the dollar crisis and the decline in production from domestic gas fields. To ensure food security, uninterrupted supply of fertilizer to the agricultural sector is very important. Therefore, those concerned have demanded that the gas supply be normalized quickly and the factories be reopened.