Guj govt confident of meeting urea requirement

As per the data available with Directorate of Agriculture of Gujarat, the availability of urea during the period April-June stood at 5.61 lakh tonnes as against the requirement of 3.20 lakh tonnes for the same period. "Considering the availability of urea in Apri-June period, there will not be any problem of supply this Kharif season," said government officials.

Apart from urea, government has made available 2.62 lakh tonnes Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) as against the requirement of 1.70 lakh tonnes during April-June period.

It may be mentioned here that with the onset of monsoon Gujarat government has pegged the urea requirement for Kharif season 2008 at 9.25 lakh tonnes, which shows an increase of around 10 per cent as compared to urea consumption in corresponding season last year. Last year, the total consumption of uear stood at 8.77 lakh tonnes.

Of the total requirement, supply of around 2 lakh tonnes will be met through imports, while the rest will be supplied by indeginous urea producers such as Gujarat State Fertilisers and Chemicals ltd (GSFC) and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company Ltd, sources added.

Gujarat imported around 3 lakh tonnes of urea last year but this year imports are likely to be 2 lakh tonnes as domestic urea producers will be providing more urea. The surge in urea requirement is mainly due to likely increase in the area to be covered under Kharif crop in Gujarat.