Ammonia shortage halts Chattogram DAP plant operations

An acute shortage of ammonia has closed down production at the state-owned DAP Fertilizer Company Limited (DAPFCL). The closure of five of the country's six urea factories is behind the crisis, officials said. 

The DAP plant exhausted its stock of the indispensable raw material on Saturday. Fertiliser output had stopped around 7:00 pm, Deputy General Manager (Commercial) Robiul Alam Khan confirmed.

He said that the ammonia needed for production at the factory is primarily sourced from Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Company Limited (CUFL) and Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company Limited (KAFCO).

These two fertiliser factories were among the five shut down in early March, as a precaution amid fears of gas supply disruptions caused by the widening war in the Middle East and Iran’s closure of the Hormuz Strait, a key global energy route. They are yet to resume operations, and ammonia supply to the DAP facility remains cut off.  

"If gas supply to those plants resumes, they can restart production, and we will receive raw materials again. There is no alternative source at the moment," Khan told The Daily Star.

DAP production requires phosphoric acid and ammonia. 

"We have sufficient phosphoric acid in stock, but without ammonia, production cannot continue," he added. Typically, the plant produces around 500 tonnes of fertiliser daily using imported phosphoric acid and ammonia supplied by KAFCO and CUFL.

DAPFCL had managed to continue operations for nearly one and a half months using existing stock, but was forced to shut down after the reserves ran out.

The most recent batch of 3,000 tonnes of ammonia from KAFCO had sustained production until then, Khan said.

Located in Rangadia of Anwara upazila in Chattogram, DAPFCL operates under the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) of the Ministry of Industries and plays a key role in supplying compound fertiliser to the country's agricultural sector. 

Established to meet domestic demand for nitrogen and phosphorus-based fertilisers, the plant has been in commercial operation since 2006. It has 2 units with a combined production capacity of 800 tonnes per day.

An official of the BCIC told The Daily Star that, due to the ongoing gas crisis, 5 fertiliser factories, excluding the 2,800-tonne-capacity Ghorashal plant, had remained shut since March 4.

"We have been unable to produce around 7,100 tonnes of fertiliser daily from these plants for the past one and a half months," he said. 

He added that gas supply to Shahjalal Fertiliser Factory and CUFL was expected to resume from May 1. Once they restart ammonia production, the DAP plant should receive the necessary feedstock from them and resume operations.