Govt sees no shortage of fertilisers, local output enough to meet demand

Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday asserted that there will be no shortage of fertilisers in the upcoming kharif sowing season as the domestic production and stocks-in-hand will be sufficient to meet the local demand for soil nutrients.

The minister said the country might not require to import urea from the spot market to meet Kharif (summer-sown) demand. Urea being imported under long-term supply agreements will come.

However, he said, there will be some import of DAP (Di-Ammonium Phosphate) to meet the local demand.

"There will be no shortage of fertilisers in the upcoming kharif season. The stocks that we will have at the start of next month and estimated domestic production between April and September of next fiscal will be sufficient to meet the projected requirement during Kharif season," Mandaviya told reporters here.

He said the country will not need to import urea and NPK from spot markets.

Mandaviya informed that the planning for fertiliser demand and supply for the upcoming Kharif season has already been done by the ministry.

The sowing of crops in the Kharif season starts with the onset of the monsoon. Paddy and cotton, pulses and soyabean are the major crops.

Giving details, Mandaviya said the estimated requirement of urea for the kharif season is 179 lakh tonnes, while the total availability will be 194.31 lakh tonnes, which includes an opening stock of 55 lakh tonnes as of April 1 and production of 139.31 lakh tonnes during the next six months.

Similarly, the opening stock of DAP is 25 lakh tonnes and production is estimated at 20 lakh tonnes, taking the total availability to 45 lakh tonnes for the Kharif season.

The requirement for DAP for Kharif is estimated at 58.82 lakh tonnes, he said, adding that the gap would be filled through imports.

For NPKS, the total requirement for Kharif is 63.72 lakh tonnes while the total availability will be 77.15 lakh tonnes, including an opening stock of 28 lakh tonnes and estimated production of 49.15 lakh tonnes.

Asked about imports, Mandaviya said, "We will not need to import urea and NPK fertilisers for Kharif season. A small quantity of DAP will need to be imported".

In the 2021-22 fiscal, India imported 91.36 lakh tonnes of urea, 54.62 lakh tonnes of DAP, 24.60 lakh tonnes of MoP (muriate of potash) and 11.70 lakh tonnes of NPK fertilisers.

On the conversion of fertiliser retail shops into one-stop shops called Prime Minister Kisan Samridhi Kendras (PMKSK), Mandaviya said 28,000 existing fertiliser retail shops have been converted and by the end of this year, the number will reach 2 lakh.

The minister said a total of 26.64 crore bags have been dispatched so far under the Bharat brand.

On nano liquid urea, the minister said the production capacity has reached 17 crore bottles per year. By 2025, he said the capacity would touch 44 crore bottles, which is equivalent to 200 lakh tonnes of conventional urea.

India's total urea requirement is around 350 lakh tonnes, of which around 90 lakh tonnes of urea is imported annually.

Mandaviya said the country will export surplus conventional urea.

The minister highlighted that the nano-DAP has also been approved and expected the product to hit the market in the next six months.

He said the government has established a fertiliser flying squad to curb the diversion of urea for industrial usage. The focus is on plywood, resin, ceramic, glue, plywood, resin, crockery, moulding powder, cattle feed, dairy, and industrial mining explosives where agriculture-grade urea is used.

The minister said the government will take stringent action against defaulters.