The government has approved the import of 40,000 tonnes (plus or minus 10 percent) of bulk granular urea from Saudi Arabia. The lot will cost Tk 193 crore 55 lakh 83 thousand 720, to be paid out of the agricultural subsidy allocation in the budget.

The proposal was approved on Wednesday, 16 September, at a meeting of the cabinet committee on government purchase held at the Secretariat and chaired by Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury. Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), under the Ministry of Industries, will bring in the fertiliser from SABIC Agri-Nutrients Company of Saudi Arabia.

According to meeting sources, the government has been buying urea from SABIC under a government-to-government contract since 2007. For the 2026-27 financial year the contract covers a total of 820,000 tonnes: 320,000 tonnes under the main agreement, with provision for a further 500,000 tonnes should an emergency require it.

Applying the pricing formula fixed in the contract and current international prices, this fifth lot has been valued at $15,666,400 in total. That works out at $391.66 per tonne of urea.

With the purchase committee's approval in hand, the lot will now be imported from SABIC Agri-Nutrients through the prescribed procedure.

The decision comes at the tail end of the aman season and ahead of the rabi and potato plantings, when demand for urea rises; a steady import pipeline is what keeps the subsidised fertiliser in the dealers' stock.

Source: banglanews24