The government has thrown its weight behind the fertiliser industry that has started playing hardball with the global potash cartel by refusing to import the fertiliser this monsoon season if producers do not sell the commodity at the price they sold it to China.

?If producers are not willing to come down to the price level at which they offered potash to China, we are not willing to import. They (domestic fertiliser industry) are saying producers cannot have different standards for different buyers, which is correct also,? fertiliser secretary Sutanu Behuria told FE, endorsing the industry?s position not to give in to the global potash cartel.

The Fertiliser Association of India has put the blame for not lifting the commodity for the forthcoming June-September kharif season squarely on ?the unreasonable, exorbitant international price of potash as a result of cartelisation of suppliers?.

Chinese importers were able to source potash at $400 a tonne, while producers now insist on over $500 a tonne from Indian importers. For the government, a higher price would mean higher fertiliser subsidy as India is the largest importer of potash at about 5 million tonnes. In 2010-11, the government gave a subsidy of Rs 54,976 crore and for the current fiscal, the government has estimated a subsidy outgo of Rs 49,998 crore. In 2008-09, the year of the global commodity boom, India had paid $625 for a tonne of potash.

The world?s largest producers of potash are based in Canada ? Potash Corporation, Mosaic and Agrium ? and they control a third of the global potash market through a cartel called Canpotex. Another cartel led by Russian companies cooperate with Canpotex and together they control 70% of the world market.

India?s fertiliser consumption as well as the subsidy outgo are expected to be robust this year as the Met department has predicted a normal monsoon. The fertiliser association claims that there is enough stock of potash in the supply chain that will take care of this year?s requirement.

?If we get a good monsoon, demand for fertilisers will surely remain robust. Last kharif season, we used 40-41 lakh tonnes of complex fertilisers. That will be the level we expect to maintain this season as well,? Behuria said.

The political crisis in North Africa, particularly in Egypt and Tunisia, will not adversely affect the availability of phosphatic fertilisers to Indian farmers, the secretary said. ?What we need to provide is the nutrient required, not the fertiliser per se. If a particular fertiliser is not available, we will ensure supply of a substitute with the same nutrient value,? said Behuria.