Fertiliser intake surges 10% to record 18.47 mt

Registering a healthy growth of 10 per cent, fertiliser consumption scaled a new high of 18.47 million tonne in 2004-05. The previous record in fertiliser consumption stood at 18.07 million tonne in 1999-2000.

While the use of nitrogenous fertilisers grew in 2004-05 by 5.8 per cent, that of phosphatic and potassic fertilisers rose by 11.9 per cent and 33.4 per cent, respectively.

The Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) has estimated the nitrogen consumption in 2004-05 at 11.72 million tonne against 11.07 million tonne in the previous year. The consumption of phosphates is reckoned at 4.6 million tonne against 4.12 million tonnes in 2003-04.

Similarly, the utilisation of potash is estimated at 2.13 million tonne against 1.59 million tonne in the previous year.The domestic production of nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilisers, too, went up in 2004-05 by 7.1 per cent and 11.4 per cent, respectively. Almost the entire demand of potassic fertilisers is met through imports.

The indigenous output of nitrogenous fertilisers is estimated at 11.3 million tonne and that of phosphatic fertilisers at 4.0 million tonne during the year.

The import of urea in 2004-05 was around 0.64 million tonne, while that of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MOP) about 0.64 million tonne and 3.4 million tonne, respectively.

Significantly, the imbalance in the use of three major plant nutrients got somewhat reduced in 2004-05, portending well for the long-term soil health. The latest FAI reckoning puts the ratio of consumption of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash at 5.5 : 2.2 : 1. It was 6.9 : 2.6 : 1 in 2003-04.

Over half of the total fertiliser consumption was accounted for by five states "" Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka. The largest consumer was Uttar Pradesh with a total consumption of three fertilisers of about 3.31 million tonnes.The second largest consumer was AP where about 1.99 million tonne of fertilisers were used.

The consumption in other major fertiliser-using states was: Maharashtra 1.74 million tonne, Punjab 1.56 million tonne and Karnataka 1.30 million tonne.

The growth in fertiliser consumption has been achieved despite the overall monsoon rainfall being 13 per cent below normal in 2004-05. However, the prices of fertilisers had been kept unchanged during the year.