Domestic Urea Production Rebounds to Last Year's Levels in April

NEW DELHI: Monthly domestic urea production has rebounded to last year's levels, fertiliser ministry said on Thursday, noting that output of the most widely used soil nutrient reached 21 lakh tonnes in April, which was the same as the level recorded a year earlier. In March, domestic urea output had tumbled to around 16 lakh tonnes due to the West Asia conflict disrupting LNG supplies. Up to 97% of natural gas supply has now been restored. In April last year, domestic urea production was close to 22 lakh tonne. Aparna Sharma, additional secretary in fertiliser ministry, said increased domestic production, robust opening stock and assured imports of soil nutrients will be enough to meet the requirement for kharif crops. She added that since the beginning of conflict, 78 lakh tonnes of fertilisers — urea, Diammonium Phosphate (DAP), Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) or NPKs, and Single Super Phosphate (SSP) — have been added to the stock through domestic production and imports. She said, "Fertiliser availability remains robust, and supplies continue to exceed the requirement." As of Thursday, the overall stock stood at 193.8 lakh tonnes, which is 50% of the estimated demand of 320 lakh tonnes for the entire kharif season. Government has maintained that despite the spike in global prices of key fertilisers, retail prices have been kept unchanged to ensure farmers don't get impacted.