DAP fertiliser plant shuts down due to ammonia shortage amid gas crisis

Production at the state-owned DAP Fertilizer Company Limited has come to a halt. Due to an ammonia shortage, fertiliser production at the plant stopped around 8:00pm on Saturday.

The factory is located in the Rangadia area of Anwara upazila in Chattogram.

According to officials at the plant, production at the DAP facility depends on ammonia supplied by two neighboring fertilizer factories—Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Company Limited (CUFL) and Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company Limited (KAFCO). However, due to a gas shortage, ammonia production at both CUFL and KAFCO has been suspended since 4 March. As a result, ammonia supply to the DAP plant also stopped.

Under these circumstances, the DAP plant continued operations for about one and a half months using its existing ammonia stock. With those reserves now exhausted, production at the plant was shut down last night.

The DAP plant is operated by the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation under the Ministry of Industries. The facility has been playing a significant role in the country’s agricultural sector. It was established to meet domestic demand for compound fertilizers (containing nitrogen and phosphorus). Commercial production at the plant began in 2006, and each of its two units has a production capacity of 800 metric tons.

When contacted, Managing Director Mohammad Mainul Haque said, “We have not been receiving ammonia since 4 March. Despite that, production continued using previous stock. As the stock has now been depleted, production is temporarily suspended. Operations will resume once ammonia supply is restored.”