Sales of key fertilisers – Urea, DAP, MOP and Complex – in February has exceeded the monthly demand by 11 per cent, which is for the third time in a row after India had faced severe scarcity of the crop nutrients during October-November last year due to lower availability amid cut in imports of Urea. The sales were 33 per cent more in January and 29 per cent higher in December 2024 against the demand estimate.

Fertiliser sales dropped 33 per cent below demand in October 2024 and fell 6 per cent in November – two key months for Rabi season nutrient application. Experts see the current sales recovery as a “lesson learned” by policymakers, despite the government attributing the fertiliser crisis to ongoing Middle East unrest since early 2024.

“At least the government, seemed to have learnt a lesson only after farmers braced police lathis (baton), standing in long queues last festival season to buy one bag of fertiliser. Hope there will be no repeat of the crisis in ensuing Kharif,” said an expert requesting anonymity.

According to the latest official data, sales of Urea reached 371.19 lakh tonnes (lt) during April-February of the current fiscal, which is 8.5 per cent higher from 342.13 lt a year ago, while those of MOP to 20.42 lt from 15.23 lt (34.1 per cent up) and Complex to 143.05 lt from 112 lt (27.7 per cent up). Only sales of DAP dropped to 93.47 lt from 106.37 lt mainly due to scarcity till mid-November 2024.

According to the latest official data, Urea sales reached 371.19 lakh tonnes (lt) during April-February of the current fiscal, 8.5 per cent higher than 342.13 lt a year ago. MOP sales rose to 20.42 lt from 15.23 lt (up 34.1 per cent), while Complex fertiliser sales increased to 143.05 lt from 112 lt (up 27.7 per cent). Only DAP sales dropped to 93.47 lt from 106.37 lt, mainly due to a shortage till mid-November 2024.

All these four types of fertilisers have recorded total sales of 628.13 lt upto February in current fiscal, compared to 575.73 lt a year ago.

Production of all fertilisers rose by 2.4 per cent at 476.86 lt during April-February of FY25 from 465.63 lt a year ago, including Urea at 281.89 lt (against 289.14 lt year-ago), DAP at 36.51 lt (40.74 lt), Complex at 103.27 lt (88.6 lt), SSP at 48.15 lt (41.34 lt) and Ammonium Sulphate at 7.04 lt (5.81 lt).

Urea imports, controlled by the government, were recorded at 51.69 lt during the 11 months up to February, compared to 66.67 lt a year ago, a fall of 22.5 per cent. There was a record urea import of 98.28 lt during the entire FY 2020-21.

Import of overall fertilisers also dropped 11.6 per cent to 141.86 lt during April-February from 160.46 lt a year ago, in which complex import declined 4.6 per cent at 19.05 lt from 19.96 lt and DAP by 16.8 per cent to 44.19 lt from 53.13 lt. But, MOP import surged 30.1 per cent to 26.93 lt from 20.7 lt, which industry experts attributed to low base effect.

Meanwhile, Urea subsidy has reached ₹119,414.43 crore, exceeding revised estimate of ₹119,000 crore, while potash and phosphorus has reached at ₹49,523.43 crore (against ₹52,310 crore RE), which together is 98.6 per cent of ₹1,71,310 crore allocated in Budget (Revised Estimate) for 2024-25.