Urea shortage: Supplies in Jun-July exceeded states' requirement, sales

Despite images of farmers standing in line for urea, data shows that supplies to most states were more than both their requests and sales; shortages grew out of sudden demand due to increase in sowing

A few days ago, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and a key NDA ally, N Chandrababu Naidu, urged the Central government to help the state in meeting its urea needs.

 

He is not alone. Over the past few months - throughout the kharif sowing season, in fact - several of his fellow chief ministers, including Revanth Reddy of Telangana and Bhagwant Mann of Punjab, have been raising the issue of acute shortage of urea and other major fertilisers. Urea is primarily consumed during the kharif season to supplement the nitrogen requirement in soil for paddy and maize crops.

 

Long queues of farmers and their relatives standing in pouring rain to get hold of that elusive bag of urea or some other major fertiliser had become an enduring image of this kharif season.

 

However, data released by the Central government shows that, on paper at least, the supply and demand for major fertilisers including urea was not as bad as was being felt on the ground.

 

Take Andhra Pradesh. In June 2025, the state placed a requirement of 67,000 tonnes of urea against which it received 406,000 tonnes while its actual sales in that month was 91,000 tonnes. Clearly, supplies were far more than the requirement.

 

In the following month, the state required 130,000 tonnes of urea against which it received 399,000 tonnes but actual sales came in at only 186,000 tonnes, well below what was supplied.

 

The story is repeated in Punjab. Against a requirement of 220,000 tonnes of urea, the actual supply in July was 663,000 tonnes, whereas sales, as per government data, was only 409,000 tonnes.

 

In Haryana, against a requirement of 300,000 tonnes of urea in July, the state received 442,000 tonnes while sales were 367,000 tonnes.

 

In UP, which witnessed massive shortage of urea during the major sowing months, data showed that the state required 1 million tonnes of urea in July, against which it received 2.11 million tonnes, but actual sales were only 1.28 million tonnes. Similarly, in Bihar, actual supplies in July were 581,000 tonnes against a requirement of 260,000 tonnes, while sales were merely 244,000 tonnes, even less than what was requisitioned.

 

Cumulatively, across India, states placed a requirement of 3.17 million tonnes (MT) of urea in July, received 9.16 MT, but saw actual sales of only 5.44 MT.

 

In June 2025, states had placed a requirement of 3.17 MT of urea against which they received 9.56 MT (over 201 percent more), whereas actual sales came in at 5.44 MT.

 

Other fertilisers went through a comparable situation, too.

 

In June, states assessed a requirement of 1.13 MT of DAP, against which availability was 2.47 MT and sales were only 1.08 MT.

 

When it came to complexes, the total requirement assessed by states was 1.52 MT while the total supply was 5.66 MT and sales were only 2.16 MT.

 

A familiar cause behind the conundrum

 

Several experts said a sudden, bunched demand for urea as farmers scrambled to plant more area under paddy and maize led to the supply shortage.

 

This was taken advantage of by dealers who indulged in stockholding and black marketing in some centres, leading to further shortages.

 

The importance of urea

 

Urea is applied in basal dosages in both paddy and maize, and as farmers started cultivating more area under these two crops, there was a sudden jump in demand which led to shortages, some traders said.

 

“Also, there were strong rumours circulating of severe shortage of urea that contributed to farmers queuing up to secure their supplies leading to further shortages,” a senior official remarked.

 

Until September 5, paddy has been sown in around 43.82 million hectares of land, which is 4.7 per cent more than last year, while maize has been planted in around 9.46 mn/ha which is 12.2 per cent more than the area covered in the corresponding period last year.

 

At one point of time, acreage under paddy was almost 3 mn/ha more than the corresponding period of 2024.

 

An unexpected monsoon plenty

 

When it comes to monsoon rains, the showers this year have exceeded everyone’s expectations.

 

Between June 1 and September 8, the cumulative all-India average rainfall has been 9 per cent above normal, with seasonal rainfall in Punjab 55 per cent above normal so far; Haryana (48 per cent), Delhi (51 per cent excess) and Himachal Pradesh (48 per cent surplus) and U.P. have all seen more than normal rains.

 

"In fertilisers there are multiple reasons for sudden shortages, and distribution problems is one of them while in some cases leakages to lead to disruption in supplies for actual users while movement by railways and adequate and timely availability of wagons is another factor that could influence smooth supply of fertiliser,” S Nand, former ADG of Fertiliser Association of India and someone who has closely tracked the sector for long told Business Standard.