Urea imports surge 43% to 3.06 million tonnes

India's annual urea demand is 30 mn tonnes while domestic production has stayed stagnant at 22 mn tonnes

India's urea imports have increased 43 per cent to 3.06 million tonnes in the first five months of the current financial year.

Urea imports during the same period of the previous fiscal stood at 2.13 million tonnes, according to official data.

The government imports urea through state trading enterprises -- STC, MMTC and IPL -- for direct agricultural use to bridge the gap between assessed demand and the local production.

India also imports urea from Oman India Fertiliser Company (Omifco) under a long-term urea offtake agreement between the government and the company.

India's annual urea demand is about 30 million tonnes while the domestic production has stayed stagnant at 22 million tonnes. The rest is met through imports.

Urea is a controlled commodity in India as it is imported by the government itself. The soil nutrient's maximum retail price is fixed at Rs 5,360 per tonne, and the difference between the cost of production and the retail price is paid as subsidy to the manufacturers.