Chattogram Bureau :
Chattogram Urea Fertilizer Company (CUFL), the country’s largest state-owned fertilizer plant, is closed again due to gas shortage. As the production has stopped since last Friday, more than Tk 3 crore losses have to be paid every day. Earlier, CUFL factory was closed on March 27 due to same reasons.
Later, the factory had to be closed again after a month after it started on April 5. According to CUFL sources, if the factory is operational, it is capable of producing 1 lakh metric tons of ammonia and 1700 metric tonnes of urea daily.
At present, the production has decreased due to various mechanical faults including gas shortage in the factory. About three and a half lakh metric tons of urea fertilizer is being produced annually.
In the last financial year, about 2 lakh 50 thousand metric tons of urea fertilizer was produced in the factory. It is learned that the converter catalyst of CUFL factory has been changed under the supervision of UK expert team in last one month effort. An expert team is scheduled to visit the factory on May 10 to make the catalyst suitable for ammonia production.
Meanwhile, the sudden cutoff of gas supply has created uncertainty about the completion of the catalyst, sources added.