Govt holds fertiliser prices steady to shield farmers from volatile global market
New Delhi, April 27 (IANS) There is no change in the retail prices of major fertilisers in India despite a sharp rise in global prices as the government is committed to shielding farmers from global price volatility while ensuring affordability and accessibility, the Ministry of Fertilisers announced on Monday.
Despite a sharp rise in global fertiliser prices — where international prices of urea have exceeded Rs 4,000 per bag — the government continues to supply urea to farmers at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 266.5 per 45 kg bag, a ministry statement said.
Fertiliser availability remains robust, with supplies continuing to exceed the requirements. For kharif 2026, the fertiliser requirement has been assessed by the Agriculture Ministry at 390.54 lakh metric tonnes (LMT), and against this, as on Monday, the stock is around 190 LMT (49 per cent), significantly higher than the usual level of about 33 per cent. This reflects improved planning, advance stocking, and efficient logistics management by the government, the statement said.
The supply position continues to be strong in the states. For the period April 1 to April 26, availability remains substantially higher than the requirement.
Urea availability is 71.40 LMT against a requirement of 20.54 LMT, DAP availability is 23.09 LMT against 6.67 LMT requirement, MOP availability is 8.38 LMT against 1.96 LMT requirement, NPK availability is 53.40 LMT against 8.43 LMT requirement, and SSP availability is 25.78 LMT against 3.73 LMT requirement. This clearly indicates a strong opening position for the ongoing kharif season, the statement said.
Issues relating to natural gas availability for domestic urea production have also been addressed, with a steady supply being maintained to fertiliser plants and additional LNG/RLNG being arranged as required. At present, 97 per cent of LNG/RLNG is available with fertiliser plants. Most of the urea plants are running at an optimum level.
In February, India secured 13.07 LMT urea through the global tender route, and now the Government has diversified import sources and secured 25 LMT of urea through a global tender.
Indian fertiliser companies have issued an aggregated global tender for the procurement of 12 LMT DAP & 4 LMT TSP, and 3 LMT ammonium sulphate on Friday. These will help to ensure adequate availability during the peak season, the statement said.
India’s fertiliser security remains strong, stable, and well-managed, with availability consistently exceeding requirement across all major fertilisers, it added.
–IANS
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