The commerce ministry today said it has allowed National Fertilizer Ltd (NFL) to import urea for another two months.
So far, state trading enterprises (STEs), including MMTC and State Trading Corporation (STC), were permitted to import fertiliser.
"In addition to the existing STEs, NFL is permitted to import urea for another to months, that is, till 26 February, 2018," the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) said in a notification.
As per the industry data, the country's urea imports fell by 7.25 per cent to 3.71 million tonne (MT) during the April- October period of the current fiscal.
The world's second largest urea consumer had, in contrast, imported 4 MT of the commodity in the first seven months of the last financial year.
About 5-7 MT of urea is imported annually as domestic output is lower than the demand of 32 MT. The nitrogen fertiliser is imported through canalising agencies.
According to the Fertiliser Association of India (FAI), domestic urea output will be around 24 MT in the current fiscal as against 24.2 MT in last year.
During April-October this fiscal, domestic urea output was 13.53 MT, compared to 14.04 MT in the year-ago period.
Urea is the highly subsidised fertiliser and is sold at Rs 5,360 per tonne, while the cost of production is around Rs 16,000 per tonne.
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