According to official data, the urea import was 5.54 lt last month against 3.62 lt a year ago, that of DAP was 2.27 lt against 0.44 lt, muriate of potash (MOP) 2.19 lt against 1.45 lt and complex (combination of all nutrients) 2.31 lt against 0.63 lt.
Learning lessons
“It is good to see the government is proactive this time after learning a lesson last year, when it had to rush to global market at the rabi sowing period itself when farmers were asking for fertilizers. Hope it will ramp up sufficient quantity by October with import in tranches, so that there is no shortage in next kharif and rabi seasons,” said AK Singh, an agriculture scientist.
Singh suggested that the government should announce the subsidy for the rabi season well in advance so that private companies can continue to import even after June for the winter crop sowing when maximum DAP demand is seen.
Government data also show that sales of urea reached 345.85 lt during April-January of the current fiscal, which is 8.9 per cent higher from 317.51 lt a year ago, while those of MOP to 18.75 lt from 13.95 lt (34.4 per cent up) and Complex to 134.72 lt from 105.3 lt (27.9 per cent up). Only sales of DAP dropped to 90.3 lt from 103.03 lt mainly due to scarcity till October 2025 as it was up by over 35 per cent during November-December.
Higher than demand
All these four types of fertilisers have recorded a total sales of 589.62 lt against 539.79 lt a year ago.
Singh highlighted that the sales of urea were not only higher from the year-ago period but also more than the demand estimated by States. Urea demand was estimated at 327.31 lt for April-January of FY25. However, sales of DAP and MOP were less than demand and in case of complex variety, it was at par.
He also said higher sales than demand of fertilizers only in January show that farmers want to keep stock with themselves due to hardships faced by them in buying the crop nutrients during the sowing period. Urea sales in January were about 50 per cent higher than its estimated demand of 31.63 lt.
Output up
Meanwhile, production of all fertilizers was up by 1.7 per cent at 436.51 lt during April-January from 429.03 lt a year ago, which included urea at 258.45 lt (against 265.82 lt a year ago), DAP 34.25 lt (37.67 lt), complex 93.18 lt (81.85 lt), SSP 44.16 lt (38.37 lt) and ammonium sulphate 6.47 lt (5.32 lt).
Urea subsidy reached ₹1,15,224.33 crore while potash and phosphorus ₹48,014.75 crore, which together is 95.3 per cent of ₹1,71,3100 crore allocated in the Budget (Revised Estimate) for 2024-25. Experts said the fertilizer subsidy may be lower this fiscal from ₹1,88,292 crore in 2023-24 as global prices were marginally lower.
