Fertilizer sales up 13% even as import and production fall in Q1 FY26

Import of overall fertilizers dropped 13.2 per cent to 28.77 lt during April-June from 33.15 lt year-ago
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PTI

Sales of chemical fertilizers increased 13 per cent in the first quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal year from a year ago. India’s import and domestic production dipped, a possible reason for farmers’ complaints about shortages.

However, experts said that as the key period during which the farmers buy crop nutrients for the kharif season is already over, the government needs to plan better to avert a repeat of the chaos resulting from shortages during the rabi season.

According to latest official data, overall consumption of key fertilizers —urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), muriate of potash (MOP) and complex— increased to 121.19 lakh tonnes (lt) during April-June from 107.48 lt a year ago. This year’s demand was estimated at 146.6 lt for the first quarter.

More complaints

Sales of urea during were 12.3 per cent higher at 69.99 lt from 62.33 lt year-ago, while those of MOP rose 46.8 per cent to 4.58 lt as against 3.12 lt and complex increased by 34.4 per cent to 30.52 lt from 22.7 lt year-ago. Complex fertilizer is a combination of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potash (K) and sulphur (S) nutrients.

But the government data also show that sales of DAP, where maximum complaints of shortage were registered, dropped 16.7 per cent to 16.1 lt from 19.33 lt. In 2024 also there was complaints about DAP shortage in kharif season, but the crop production could not be affected and India had record production of rice.

On the other hand, import of overall fertilizers dropped 13.2 per cent to 28.77 lt during April-June from 33.15 lt year-ago, in which MOP import declined maximum by 81.3 per cent at 1.11 lt from 5.94 lt and that of DAP by 12.9 per cent to 9.74 lt from 11.18 lt and urea by 12.7 per cent to 8.38 lt from 9.6 lt. But, only complex showed higher import by 48.4 per cent to 9.54 lt from 6.43 lt.

Daily cap

Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Anupriya Patel had told the Lok Sabha on August 1 that the Department of Fertilizers has put a ceiling of 50 bags of subsidised fertilizers per buyer per month. Additionally, a monthly list of top 20 buyers’ of each district is made available to the concerned district magistrate for taking necessary action at their end. She also claimed that availability of urea, DAP, MoP and complex has remained adequate in the country during the ongoing Kharif season.

“Many States have announced a daily capping of fertilizer sales per farmer and it caused panic buying among farmers in June. Due to local acquaintance, farmers were able to take fertilizers from their nearest shops, which might not have been entered into the data base but physical stock was not what data showed,” said S K Singh, a retired agriculture scientist.

Official data show that the sales of urea were 2.5 lt more than its demand estimated for the month and similarly, MOP sales were 15,000 tonnes higher and complex 3.23 lt more than demand during June. But DAP sales dropped 2.41 lt from demand estimate of 10.62 lt in June.

4% higher rainfall

Data also showed that fertilizers’ production dropped to 120.59 lt from 125.33 lt, lower by 3.8 per cent mainly due to urea, which dipped 10.2 per cent to 67.89 lt from 75.63 lt a year ago. But, output of DAP rose 3.5 per cent to 10.35 lt from 10 lt, complex 5.8 per cent to 26.63 lt from 25.17 lt and SSP by 6.1 per cent to 13.89 lt from 13.09 lt.

The pan-India rainfall stands at 4 per cent above its long period average during June 1- August 4, IMD data show. Only 6 meteorological subdivisions having 14 per cent of geographical area are deficient, so far whereas all other areas have received normal or excess rainfall. Rajasthan is the only state which reported more than “excess” rainfall, 80 per cent of LPA.

Published on August 4, 2025