The Hindu Business Line : Uniform price for single super phosphate on cards

The Government is keen on promoting SSP as it is not only a phosphatic fertiliser but also contains other plant nutrients such as sulphur and calcium which enrich the soil.

Phalguna Jandhyala

New Delhi, Dec 9 Single super phosphate (SSP), which is commonly known as the poor man’s diammonium phosphate (DAP), might soon be available at a uniform price across the country.

SSP is a useful fertiliser for pulses and oil seeds, especially in dry land areas.

The Government is keen on promoting SSP as it is not only a phosphatic fertiliser but also contains other plant nutrients such as sulphur and calcium which enrich the soil.

These two nutrients are helpful in resisting stressful land conditions.

Central maximum retail price

“The Department of Fertilisers (DoF) is considering a proposal to have a central maximum retail price (MRP) for SSP which is not the case till now.

“Until now, the price was determined by the respective State Governments, but because the industry is undergoing a tough time, this measure is expected to help them as they will be able to sell their product across the country,” an official in the Department of Fertilisers told Business Line.

In the case of urea, DAP and muriate of potash (MoP), the retail price is determined by the Union Government.

The Department is looking at two possibilities for the introduction for the common MRP.

Suggestions

“One suggestion is to base it on the average price of the fertiliser that various State Governments have fixed and the other to derive the cost by taking the price of per unit of phosphate from DAP and the prevailing imported price of sulphur,” the official said.

He added that based on the calculations, the cost would be around Rs 4,000 per tonne.

Average selling price

The average selling price of SSP in the country is around Rs 3,800 per tonne.

Apart from this, the DoF is also considering an input-based concession policy for SSP. Under this scheme, the subsidy to be paid by the Government will be worked out on principle of escalation and de-escalation of the raw material costs.

input based concession

There would be a review every month to see if there needs to be a change in the base price.

“Once either of the proposals is cleared, it would help the industry a lot because they are facing a tough time due to the rising raw material costs,” the official said.

The base price that the Department is considering for the input based concession scheme is slightly over Rs 1,300 per tonne.

The DoF gives an ad-hoc concession of Rs 1,125 per tonne of SSP, which also includes a freight charge of Rs 150 that was introduced in April this year.

Output capacity

As per estimates the domestic SSP industry has a production capacity of close to 70 lakh tonnes (lt) but only around 28.07 lt was produced in 2006-07.

This year up to August 10.5 lt was manufactured and for the full year the total production is likely to miss even last year’s mark.