Hindu Breather on LNG as rains bring green shoots for FACT K.A. MARTIN
Onset of the monsoon has helped the financially beleaguered Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore sprout shoots as Factamfos sale, revenue driver for the company, surpassed recent records during April and June 2015.
The public sector company also earned a seven-day extension on the current LNG supply contract till July 7 enabling it to continue ammonia production. A new contract for gas supply is on the anvil, company sources said on Wednesday.
FACT has now been assured of gas supply at the rate of US$10.9 per mmBtu. The State Government has exempted LNG for FACT from KVAT.
A press release from the company said that it did “commendably well” in the first quarter of the current financial year with production and sales going beyond their targets in the face of “a slew of adversities”. Production of Factamfos, popular across South India, rose to 1.34 lakh tonnes during April-June this year against the target of 1.15 lakh tonnes. Sale of the complex fertiliser touched 1.40 lakh tonnes during the period. Ammonium sulphate production touched 24,079 tonnes and sales stood at 28,643 tonnes. Bulk gypsum sales reached 1.11 lakh tonnes.
June has particularly been good with Factamfos production and sales at 72,590 tonnes and 80,241 tonnes respectively. The sales target was 65,000 tonnes. The company statement said that this was the first time since October 2013 that monthly Factamfos production crossed the 72,000-tonne mark. Monthly Factamfos sale of over 80,000 tonnes has been achieved after four years.
Chairman and Managing Director of the public sector company Jaiveer Srivastava congratulated the employees and officers for achieving what looked like near impossible at the beginning of the calendar year.
FACT’s salary bill adds up to about Rs. 150 crore annually. Outgo on interest on working capital and other loans amounted to roughly Rs. 200 crore last year. The unit has around 2,850 employees on its rolls.
