Fertiliser demand put at 21.37 mn tonne for kharif 2012

Govt to launch new investor-friendly policy in bid to bridge 9-mn-tonne urea gap

The demand for fertilisers, including urea, muriate of potash and Di-ammonium phosphate, has been pegged at 21.37 million tonnes for the upcoming kharif (winter) season.

According to the data presented in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Fertilisers Srikant Jena, the total requirement of urea is estimated at 15.80 million tonnes for the kahrif season.

The demand for Di-ammonium phosphate has been pegged at at 6.94 million tonnes, complex fertilisers at 5.55 million tonnes, single super phosphate at 2.89 million tonnes and for muriate of potash (MoP) at 2.19 million tonnes.

For the April-February period of the last fiscal, total requirement of urea stood at 28.8 million tonnes, while that of DAP was at 12.3 million tonnes, MoP at 4.5 million tonnes and complex fertilisers at 10.2 million tonnes.

Answering another query, the minister said that import of fertilisers has risen on account of low rise in domestic production and rise in requirement of fertilisers.

"The percentage increase of total consumption (sales) of imported fertilisers as compared to the total consumption of fertilisers is 40% in the country during the year 2011-12," Jena said.

Similarly, the percentage increase of total consumption of imported fertilisers during the 9th and 10th Five year Plan is 12% and 22%, respectively, he added.

The minister said that the government is bringing in a new investment policy for urea to attract new investments in greenfield, brownfield and expansion of plants.

"Currently, the demand-production gap in urea is approx nine million tonne. It is expected that in case 7-8 new greenfield or expansion plants are established in the next 5 to 7 years, we will be able to bridge the gap," Jena added.