Urea production has stopped again at Jamuna Fertilizer Company Limited in Sarishabari, Jamalpur. Md Fazlul Haque, head of the factory's production department, said output was halted from 5 am on Sunday, 25 October, only two days after the plant came back on stream on Friday once a technical fault had been repaired, because its gas connection was cut.
Haque said the plant needs gas at 42 to 43 psi every day to run without interruption, but it was not getting the supply it needs, so production had to stop. Petrobangla and Titas had shut off the gas, he said, and production will restart once supply returns to normal. Although it never reached full output, the factory produced a total of 1,600 tonnes of urea over the two days.
The factory has stopped repeatedly this year. A gas shortage halted it from 12 February; after it was reconnected on 20 September it restarted on 6 October, only for a technical fault to stop it again on 8 October. Before that, lack of gas and mechanical problems had kept it shut for 23 months, from January 2024 to November 2025.
Built to produce 1,700 tonnes a day, the plant can now manage 1,200 to 1,400 tonnes because of low gas pressure and mechanical faults built up over several years. Through 1,900 dealers listed with the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), it supplies fertiliser to 21 districts of the north, including Jamalpur, Sherpur, Mymensingh and Tangail.
When running normally the factory produces about Tk 200 crore of fertiliser a month, at a profit of about Tk 60 crore. When it is shut, the gas bill just to keep the plant alive comes to about Tk 6 crore, before any other costs.
Reported by Banglanews24's district correspondent in Jamalpur.
Photo: Steam turbine at the Urea Fertilizer Factory in Palash, Narsingdi (not the Jamuna plant), Rahat / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Banglanews24
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