Shortage of urea, DAP won’t affect sugar industry

Asia Fertilizer Week, the fertilizer newsletter of Asia, has warned that the traditional suppliers of ammonia are shutting down their ammonia plants, resulting in a worldwide shortage of urea and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) beginning April 2003.

Urea contains 46-percent nitrogen (46-0-0) while DAP contains a mixture of 18-percent nitrogen and 46-percent phosphorus (18-46-0). Urea and DAP have been the traditional fertilizer grades for sugarcane fertilization in Negros and Bukidnon.

Industry observers fear that local importers will not attempt to import from the limited stocks of urea and DAP in the world market because the local sugarcane planters will surely find the prices too steep and unaffordable.

In a statement, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. said he had anticipated the urea and DAP shortage and had advised President Arroyo. The president directed Lorenzo to find a remedy so that the sugarcane planters would not be affected by the shortage.

Lorenzo said he has tasked Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority (FPA) Administrator Jose Mari Perez to coordinate with local fertilizer manufacturers in producing an alternative fertilizer grade for sugarcane without relying on urea and DAP importation.

In a related development, Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. (Philphos) chairman and president Jose Ch. Alvarez announced that the company is now manufacturing an alternative fertilizer grade for sugarcane in response to the call of the president.

Alvarez said the innovative "3-in-1" Philphos fertilizers will be introduced at the L’Fisher hotel in Bacolod on March 14. Expected to attend the product launching are some 250 sugarcane planters led by Lorenzo and key provincial officials of Negros Occidental and Bacolod.