Despite the supply disruption from the West Asia crisis, fertiliser companies have sold close to 17 million tonne (MT) of urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), muriate of potash, and NPK variants of soil nutrients to farmers halfway through the current Kharif season. This is against a requirement of 38 MT for the entire season.
Sources said that thanks to diversification of imports following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and a rise in domestic production, current fertiliser stocks are close to 14 MT, which should be sufficient to meet the demand for soil nutrients in the next couple of months.
In the Kharif season of 2025, companies sold 33.18 MT of fertilisers (urea – 19.3 MT, DAP – 4.63 MT, Potash – 1.09 MT and NPKs – 8.14 MT) to farmers through biometric authentication.
As per the revised demand for fertilisers by agriculture in the current Kharif season, urea demand was projected at 19 MT, against which 9.79 MT of key soil nutrients has been sold so far in the current fiscal year. Current urea stock is around 6.87 MT. This implies any shortage may be marginal, although region-wise availability will need management.
Against the projected DAP demand of 6 MT in the ongoing season, 2.35 MT of soil nutrient variants have been sold till now, while the current stock is 4.02 MT.
For NPK fertilisers, over 4 MT has been sold so far this season while fertiliser companies have 4.51 MT in stock. The government has built up fertiliser stock through imports and domestic production since the commencement of the West Asia crisis.
With the closure of the Strait, LNG supplies from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were disrupted leading to a drop in domestic urea production in March and the first half of April. With the government approving spot purchases of LNG and softening global prices, production is currently at the normal level.
“We have diversified our sourcing of fertiliser despite higher global prices so that soil nutrients are available to farmers at subsidised price,” an official said.
India imported 28 MT of fertilisers against a total consumption of over 70 MT in FY26. Last fiscal, 10 MT of urea was imported out of a total consumption of 40 MT, about 80% of the feedstock – LNG – used in manufacturing key soil variants was imported.
Sources said that in FY26 while the fertiliser subsidy rose to Rs 2.17 lakh crore against a revised estimate of Rs 1.86 lakh crore, actual subsidy outgo in FY27 is likely to be higher in the current fiscal year due to elevated global price levels for soil nutrients.