Import of key fertiliser di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) has declined by 7% to 6.87 million tonne in the April-February period of this fiscal, Parliament was informed today.
India had imported 7.41 million tonne of the important crop nutrient in the year-ago period, data presented by Minister of State for Fertilisers and Chemicals Srikant Jena in the Lok Sabha showed.
In a separate query, the minister said that maximum retail price (MRP) of urea has not been increased by the government.
However, Jena added that "MRP of phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers have gone up due to rise in the prices of fertilisers/raw materials in the international market. Now the downward trend has started."
The minister told the house that the requirement of DAP in the rabi 2011-12 season (October-February) stood at 5.16 million tonne, while the availability of the soil nutrient was 5.62 million tonne during the period.
On fertiliser requirements, Jena said that demand for DAP in the current fiscal is expected to rise by 4% to 12.61 million tonne from 12.09 million tonne in the 2010-11 financial year.
In the April-October period of the current fiscal, the government made subsidy payments of Rs 6,118.24 crore for DAP, while payments for the entire 2010-11 fiscal stood at Rs 12,274.87 crore, he added.
