India’s production of chemical fertilisers dropped in the first month of the current fiscal, whereas sales have jumped and import was nearly flat. But, the latest data also show that the sales were much lower than estimated demand for the month of April, even as availability had no issue.
According to official data, overall consumption of key fertilisers – urea, Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP), Muriate of Potash (MOP) and complex – increased 17.4 per cent to 18.92 lakh tonnes (lt) during April from 16.12 lt year-ago.
Sales of urea during April were 15.7 per cent higher at 12.19 lt from 10.54 lt year-ago, while those of MOP rose 58.3 per cent to 0.95 lt as against 0.6 lt and complex increased by 31.6 per cent to 3.58 lt from 2.72 lt year-ago. Complex fertiliser is a combination of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potash (K) and sulphur (S) nutrients. But, sales of DAP dropped 2.7 per cent to 2.2 lt from 2.26 lt.
This year’s demand for April was estimated at 39.83 lt – urea 21.96 lt, DAP 7.81 lt, MOP 1.53 lt and complex 8.53 lt.
“There is something missing somewhere as the government’s availability number is much higher than actual sales for most of the fertilisers. The question is why there is so much gap between demand and sales,” asked S K Singh, an agriculture scientist.
The import of overall fertilisers was almost flat in April at 7.85 lt as against 7.82 lt year-ago. But urea import, which is completely governed by the government, dropped 48 per cent to 1.56 lt from 3 lt. Even MOP import dipped 66.7 per cent to 0.27 lt from 0.81 lt. On the other hand, DAP import jumped 3.6 per cent at 2.89 lt from 2.79 lt and that of complex by 156.6 per cent to 3.13 lt from 1.22 lt.
According to J S Sandhu, a former agriculture commissioner, the government should incentivise production of biofertilisers/organic manures to reduce farmers’ dependence on chemical fertilisers. He hoped that the government would make sure all the requisite fertilisers are made available in time this season, amid forecast of above normal monsoon rainfall.
The data also showed that fertilisers’ production dropped to 36.48 lt from 38.09 lt, lower by 4.2 per cent. Urea production dipped 13.4 per cent to 21.89 lt from 25.27 lt year-ago and complex production by 3.7 per cent to 6.99 lt from 7.26 lt. But DAP output jumped 51.9 per cent to 3.13 lt from 2.06 lt, SSP by 28.2 per cent to 3.83 lt from 2.99 lt and Ammonium Sulphate to 0.64 lt from 0.51 lt.
Meanwhile, the pan India rainfall stands at nearly three-times above its long period average in the first few days after the onset of monsoon over Kerala on May 24.
Published on May 30, 2025