Agri stocks trade mixed ahead of US reciprocal tariff deadline on April 2

Agri stocks: US President Donald Trump is set to announce "reciprocal tariffs" on all trading partners on April 2, 2025

Stocks of most companies engaged in agriculture and allied services, like fertilisers, agro-chemicals, and agri-seeds, were trading higher in stock market session on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, ahead of the US' impending reciprocal tariffs, to be announced on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.

 

Agro-chemical stocks, such as UPL (down 1.36 per cent), Bharat Rasayan (1.8 per cent), Bayer Cropscience (2.26 per cent), and Dhanuka Agritech (3 per cent) were nursing losses at 12:25 PM, while shares of PI Industries, Sharda Cropchem, NACL Ltd, Rallis India, and Insecticides (India) were up in the range of 1-4 per cent.

 

Similarly, shares of fertiliser stocks, such as Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals, Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals, and Tata Chemicals were down up to 3 per cent, but share prices of Coromandel International, Gujarat State Fertilisers, Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers, and Paradeep Phosphates surged up to 5 per cent till the time of writing this report.

 

Other stocks, including FACT, Sumitomo Chemicals, BASF India, Rashtriya Chemicals, Southern Petrochemicals, Kothari Industrial Corporation, Astec Lifesciences, Madras Fertilisers, and Zuari Agro Chemicals were also ruling up to 4 per cent higher.

 

By comparison, the benchmark BSE Sensex index was at 76,284, down 1,131 points or 1.46 per cent.

 

US President Donald Trump is set to announce "reciprocal tariffs" on all trading partners on April 2, 2025. Ahead of the announcement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that India has imposed 100 per cent tariffs on agri goods.

 

"These countries have been ripping off our nation for far too long, and they've made, I think, their disdain for the American workers quite clear. (But) It's time for reciprocity...," she said. READ MORE

 

According to the Delhi-based think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), the average duty rate per imported product in India on US farm products is 37.7 per cent, compared to 5.3 per cent on Indian agricultural goods in the US.

 

That apart, the agri-trade between India and the US stands at $8 billion. As per reports, India exports rice, shrimp, honey, vegetable extracts, castor oil and black pepper to the US, while the US sends almonds, walnuts, pistachios, apples and lentils back home.

 

"Experts say Washington now wants to push "big-ticket" farm exports - wheat, cotton, corn and maize - to narrow its $45 billion trade deficit with India," a BBC report said.