The government today said as many as eight private fertiliser companies have under-utilised their plant capacities in 2008-09 while the country imports around seven million tonnes of urea to meet the domestic demand.
Kanpur-based Duncans Industries, Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corporation, Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals & Fertilisers and PNF Nangal had zero urea production in 2008-09, according to the data submitted in Parliament.
These four companies have an annual installed capacity to produce between 16,000 tonnes and 3.7 lakh tonnes of urea.
"Performance of some of the fertiliser units in the country is below par. The main reason for lower production in urea plants is the limitation of availability of natural gas," the Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Srikant Kumar Jena, said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
The government, however, has decided to accord highest priority in gas allocation to the fertiliser sector for expansion and revival of projects.
"Approximately 15 million standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) of gas has been allocated from KG basin to existing gas-based urea units to meet the shortfall," he said.
The Fertiliser Ministry is in touch with Pertroleum and Natural Gas Ministry and other prospective natural gas suppliers to meet the industry requirement adequately, he added.
The data highlighted that Haldia-based Tata Chemicals was able to utilise only 57 per cent of the total capacity of 85,000 tonnes, whereas Hindalco Industries Ltd and Deepak Fertilizers & Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd had less than 50 per cent capacity utilisation in the last year.
In a separate question, the minister said that there has not been any decline in the production of fertilisers during the first quarter of the current year.
About 45.89 lakh tonnes of urea was produced during the April-June period, while DAP and Complex ferlisers production stood at 13.53 lakh tonnes and 16.21 lakh tonnes respectively in the same period, he said.
The country had produced 19.8 million tonnes of urea in 2007-08, against the requirement of 27.1 million tonnes. The shortfall in production was met through imports.
