Urea imports down 23 pc to 7.71 LT

Urea imports were down by 23 per cent at 7.71 lakh tonnes in April-May compared to that of 10.03 lakh tonnes in the same period last year.
In the last fiscal, urea imports were down by 3.41 per cent at 84.74 lakh tonnes due to higher domestic production. The country had imported 87.49 lakh tonnes of urea in the 2014-15, according to an official data.
The urea production touched all-time high of 245 lakh tonnes last fiscal, a jump of 20 lakh tonnes from the 2014-15 production.
The annual domestic demand of urea is estimated at 300 lakh tonnes. The rest is met through imports.

Urea is a controlled fertiliser and is sold at a fixed selling price of Rs 5,360 per tonne. The difference between cost of production and selling price is paid as subsidy to manufacturers.