Pakistan’s farmers spend around Rs. 1,200 billion every year on fertilizer, making it one of the largest input costs in the country’s agriculture sector, according to the Economic Survey 2025-26.
The survey estimates that every Rs. 100 increase in the price of a 50-kilogram fertilizer bag places an additional burden of Rs. 20 billion on farmers nationwide.
Fertilizer remains the most important and expensive agricultural input, contributing between 30 percent and 50 percent to crop yield improvements.
It accounts for roughly 10 percent to 15 percent of the production cost of major crops, making price movements particularly significant for farm profitability and food production.
Despite cost pressures, fertilizer use continued to rise during the current fiscal year. Fertilizer nutrient offtake reached 3.795 million tons during July-March FY2026, an increase of 11.4 percent compared to the same period last year. Nitrogen offtake rose 14.8 percent to 3.035 million tons, while potash consumption increased 26.2 percent to 48,000 tons.
Phosphate fertilizer consumption, however, moved in the opposite direction. Phosphate offtake declined 1.9 percent to 712,000 tons during the first nine months of FY2026, a trend the survey attributes to higher prices. Prices of DAP, NP, and SSP fertilizers increased by 18.3 percent, 16.6 percent, and 12.5 percent, respectively, during the period.
Meanwhile, prices of nitrogen-based fertilizers eased due to ample supplies. Urea and CAN prices fell by 4.5 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year. The survey noted that monthly buffer stocks exceeding 300,000 tons helped keep nitrogen fertilizer prices under control.
On the supply side, domestic fertilizer production in nutrient terms declined slightly by 0.5 percent during July-March FY2026, while fertilizer imports fell 20 percent. As a result, overall fertilizer availability decreased by 2.8 percent compared with the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. Despite the lower availability, stronger demand pushed overall fertilizer offtake higher, reflecting continued efforts by farmers to maintain crop productivity.