The Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (Iffco) has sharply raised prices of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and complexes. The move comes ahead of plantings for the kharif season, set to commence from June.

The country's No. 1 fertiliser concern has fixed the maximum retail price (MRP) for DAP sold through its societies at around Rs 12,000 a tonne, which excludes State-level and local levies.

This is the second round of price increase that the cooperative has announced during the current month alone.

Others, including the likes of Coromandel International, Zuari Industries and Tata Chemicals, are expected to follow suit.

The latest Rs 12,000-a-tonne rate for DAP comprises a base price of Rs 11,878 and a 1.03 per cent (Rs 122.34) excise duty-cum-education cess levied in the 2011-12 Union Budget.

“We had no option but to raise MRPs, given the way global prices of not just fertiliser products, but even intermediates such as rock phosphate, phosphoric acid, sulphur and ammonia, have hardened since January,” an Iffco official said.

The latest increase takes the cumulative rise in DAP prices from April 1, 2010 – when the MRPs of non-urea fertilisers were formally de-controlled alongside the introduction of a nutrient based subsidy (NBS) regime – to over 28 per cent.

Iffco has also hiked the MRPs of complex fertilisers, containing varying proportions of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potash (K) and sulphur (S).

The cumulative hike in their case works out even higher at 50-60 per cent, while being just 11 per cent for urea, which is outside the purview of the NBS (see Table).

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