Urea sales up 2 pc, P&K down 25 pc, in FY'13

NEW DELHI:India's urea sales rose marginally by 2 per cent to 30.16 million tonne last fiscal, but those of phosphatic and potassic fertilisers (like DAP and MoP) declined by 25 per cent to 19.1 million tonne during the same period, Parliament was informed today.
During 2011-12, India consumed 29.48 million tonnes of urea and 25.58 million tonnes of phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Jena said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

India consumed 28.2 million tonnes of urea, an important nitrogenous crop nutrient in 2010-11 fiscal.

Among P&K fertilisers, DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) consumption stood at 11.29 million tonnes, 11.2 million tonnes and 9.22 million tonnes in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 fiscals, respectively.

The country consumed 3.89 million tonne of muriate of potash (MoP) in 2010-11, while in 2011-12 and 2012-13 the sales of the fertiliser stood at almost 3 million tonnes and 2.13 million tonnes, respectively.

In the case of NPK or complex fertilisers, country-wide sales of the soil nutrient stood at 10.30 million tonnes, 11.39 million tonnes and 7.29 million tonnes in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively.

India consumed 6.16 lakh tonne of urea, 0.22 lakh tonne of DAP and 0.10 lakh tonne of MoP in April of 2013-14 fiscal.

In a separate query, Jena told the house that the production of P&K fertilisers in 2012-13 have declined.

"... there was shortfall in the production of P&K fertilisers over its installed capacity by 26.93 lakh tonnes due to non-availability of adequate natural gas, unforeseen shut downs and storage of raw materials," the Minister added.

Government achieved the production of 22.58 million tonnes of urea in 2012-13 against an installed capacity of 20.75 million tonne, he noted.

In another query, Jena said there are reports of imbalanced fertiliser use in several states in the country.

"Ministry of Agriculture has intimated that there have been reports regarding imbalanced fertiliser use due to less use of required P&K fertilisers compared to nitrogenous fertilisers, particularly, urea in several states showing wider NPK consumption ratios," he added.

The country is fully dependent on imports in the potassic (MoP) sector and to the extent of 90 per cent in phosphatic (DAP) sector in the form of either finished products or its raw materials, Jena pointed out.

Subsidy being fixed and any fluctuation in global prices has effect on the domestic prices of P&K fertilisers. Their prices have increased due to fluctuation in international prices and also due to depreciation of Indian Rupee, over which government has no control, he said.