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Our Bureau

Kolkata , Nov. 22

The West Bengal Government has pitched the State's requirements of fertilisers for the current rabi season at a level which is much higher than their actual consumption during the rabi last year. Thus, the requirement of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) has been placed at 280,000 tonnes compared with the actual consumption of 212,000 tonnes during the same period of the previous year.

The corresponding figures for other fertilisers are: Murate of Potash (MoP) 230,000 tonnes (160,000 tonnes) and Single Super Phosphate 280,000 tonnes (226,000 tonnes), 10:26:26, which is a complex fertilizer, 290,000 tonnes (264,000 tonnes) and 15:15:15, another complex fertilizer, 40,000 tonnes (37,000 tonnes).

Rabi Season

The requirement of urea for the season has been estimated at 7.5 lakh tonnes compared with actual consumption of 632,000 tonnes during the same period of the previous year. The availability of phosphatic fertilisers and potash so far in the State leaves much to be desired. These fertilisers are imported and imports being routed through far off Visakhapatnam port, the shortages have been thrown up by not-so-satisfactory port-level handling of the materials and inadequate transportation to evacuate the materials out of the port areas. In October this year, the sales of various fertilisers in the State were as follows: Urea, 63,000 tonnes; DAP, 32,000 tonnes; MoP, 25,000 tonnes; SSP, 44,000 tonnes; 10:26:26 76,000 tonnes, 15:15:15 2,000 tonnes. The sales, according to fertiliser industry sources, would have been more but for the limited availability of the materials.

As for urea, still partially controlled, the Government has made an allocation of 463,000 tonnes for West Bengal for the rabi season against the estimated requirement of 7.5 lakh tonnes (including 30,000 tonnes for the tea gardens). The balance amount has to be sourced through the de-regulated market and imports, it is learnt.

More Stories on : Fertilisers | West Bengal

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