The government has successfully maintained fertilizer sales at the same level as last year during the first six months of the current fiscal, while imports of urea, Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), Muriate of Potash (MOP) and complex together falling 29 per cent. Production of fertilizers registered 2 per cent growth in April-September period, latest official data show.

According to latest data, urea imports in April-September period of current fiscal dropped 26.3 per cent to 16.66 lakh tonnes (lt) from 22.59 lt in the previous year. Similarly, imports of other fertilizers have also recorded a fall – Complex by 13.6 per cent to 10.97 lt, DAP 42.1 per cent to 19.67 lt and MOP 13.3 per cent to 11.12 lt.

The overall import of all fertilizers has dipped 28.8 per cent to 58.42 lt. Complex variety is a combination of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potash (K) nutrients.

Timely availability

“It is a concern that at a time when farmers are complaining about shortage, the government is talking about adequate subsidy. The real issue is making fertilizer available in time and the problem this year is very acute which led to the agriculture minister of India’s largest State raising it on public platform,” an industry expert said referring to Surya Pratap Shahi’s (minister in Uttar Pradesh) comments at the annual Rabi conference last month.

Shahi had said that unless fertilizer was made available in time, there might be difficulties in achieving production target set by the State for the winter-sown crops.

The government data also showed that combined sales of urea, DAP, MOP and complex were flat at 319.97 lt in H1 FY25 against 319.86 lt year-ago. Sales of urea increased 2.8 per cent to 189.12 lt, that of MOP by 20.1 per cent to 9.27 lt and complex by 17.5 per cent to 75.46 lt. But DAP sales declined by 27.9 per cent to 46.12 lt.

While launching the single ‘Bharat’ brand under ‘one nation one fertilizer’ scheme in 2022, the government had said that it would help cut unnecessary use of fertilizer. But, experts have been saying that unless the prices are rationalised, the objective of balanced use of fertilizer will not be achieved.

While the DAP is sold around ₹1,350/bag (of 50 kg), the MOP is ₹1,500-1,550 per bag and complex is sold in the range of ₹1,200-1,650. Urea’s selling price at ₹267/bag (of 45 kg) has not been changed for more than a decade.

The price of imported urea (FOB) has dipped by 13.75 per cent to $345/tonne in September from $400 in the year ago period and that of MOP (CFR) fell by 23.72 per cent to $283 from $371. But, the price of DAP (CFR) has increased by 7.3 per cent to $632/tonne.

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