Sales of Urea, MOP and complex fertilizers during May were recorded at 88-96 per cent of the requirement whereas the DAP off take was about 60 per cent of the estimated demand despite the government claim of making phosphatic fertilizer available almost double of the quantity required for the month. Total sales of all these four categories of fertilizers have risen 14 per cent in the first two months of the current fiscal, according to official data.

Overall consumption of key fertilizers – Urea, Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP), Muriate of Potash (MOP) and Complex – increased to 58.32 lakh tonnes (lt) during April-May from 51.29 lt year-ago. Complex fertilizer is a combination of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potash (K) and sulphur (S) nutrients.

Sales of urea were 12.5 per cent higher at 35.79 lt from 31.81 lt year-ago, while those of MOP rose 39.5 per cent to 2.4 lt as against 1.72 lt and complex increased by 37.2 per cent to 12.24 lt from 8.92 lt year-ago. But, sales of DAP dropped 10.7 per cent to 7.89 lt from 8.84 lt.

“As the monsoon has covered over 90 per cent of the area of the country so far, including parts of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh as well as half of Rajasthan, after its revival on June 15-16, demand for fertilizers have suddenly increased in last few days,” said an official source. The government is trying to ensure adequate availability, particularly of DAP, as this time monsoon arrival is earlier than normal almost everywhere despite it was stalled for 20 days, the source said.

The sales of DAP during only May were 5.69 lt against estimated demand of 9.41 lt whereas urea sales were 23.6 lt against 26.71 lt demand, MOP 1.45 lt against 1.51 lt and complex 8.66 lt against 9.72 lt. The government has said that DAP availability was 18.12 lt during May.

On the other hand, the fall in production of fertilizers has further widened to 5.1 per cent during April-May whereas the drop was 4.2 per cent in only April.

Production dips

The data showed that fertilizers’ production has dropped to 77.8 lt from 82.01 lt, which included 13.4 per cent drop in Urea at 44.25 lt from 50.97 lt. But, complex production was up by 5.8 per cent at 16.88 lt from 15.95 lt and DAP output also by 5.8 per cent at 6.94 lt from 6.56 lt. Similarly, Single Super Phosphate (SSP) production too has increased 11.7 per cent to 8.57 lt from 7.67 lt and Ammonium Sulphate by 34.9 per cent to 1.16 lt from 0.86 lt.

Import of overall fertilizers dipped substantially in April-May at 15.92 lt as against 22.18 lt year-ago. Even, urea import, which is completely governed by the government, dropped 30.6 per cent to 1.56 lt from 3 lt. Likewise, MOP import also dipped 78.9 per cent to 0.6 lt from 2.84 lt and that of DAP by 37.9 per cent at 5.25 lt from 8.45 lt. Only complex import has recorded an increase of 25.8 per cent to 5.6 lt from 4.45 lt.

Meanwhile, the pan India rainfall during June 1-20 stands at 92 mm, which is 1 per cent below its long period average of 92.8 mm, with 61 per cent of the geographical areas have either normal or more rainfall. Both central and north-west meteorological regions have received 10 per cent above normal rain, each while the north-east and east has reported 11 per cent less and south peninsula 7 per cent below normal precipitation, so far.

Published on June 20, 2025