Urea

Why fertiliser shares zoomed up to 7% in trade on Dec 17; check reason here

The catalyst for this rally in fertiliser shares was the anticipated increase in the price of Di-Ammonia Phosphate (DAP), the second most widely used fertiliser in India after urea

India imports 1.8 MT urea, 2.2 MT fertiliser from China in 2023-24

India imported 18.65 lakh tonne urea and 22.58 lakh tonne phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers from China during 2023-24, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilisers Anupriya Patel said, "Government of India through Department of Fertilizers imports urea (agriculture purpose) on government account to bridge the gap between production and assessed demand." As per the data, the country imported 70.42 lakh tonne urea in 2023-24 for USD 2.6 billion. Of this, India imported 18.65 lakh tonne urea from China valuing USD 730 million. "So far as P&K fertilizers are concerned, these grades of fertilizers are covered under Open General Licence (OGL) under the Nutrient Based Subsidy Scheme (NBS). They are imported by the companies on their commercially viable terms," Patel said. The value of imported P&K fertilizers is not maintained in the department. India imported a total of 106.53 lakh

Urea consumption to fall 2.5 mn tonne on efforts to cut chemical fertiliser

India's conventional urea consumption is estimated to decline 25 lakh tonnes this fiscal on increase in demand of nano liquid urea and the government's efforts to discourage use of chemical fertilisers, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Friday. Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also highlighted that the Cabinet on Thursday approved a Rs 24,420 crore subsidy on Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) fertilisers for the kharif season. The prices of all fertilisers, including urea and Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), will not increase, he said. "The Modi government has made a lot of efforts to promote alternate fertilisers and discourage use of chemical fertilisers. The use of nano liquid urea is also gaining momentum," Mandaviya said. As a result, the minister said, "The consumption of urea in 2023-24 is estimated to decline by 25 lakh tonnes." Mandaviya said the urea consumption stood at 357 lakh tonnes during FY23. "During April-January period of this fiscal, the ...

Sulphur-coated urea will improve fertiliser efficiency but needs efforts

Farmers will have to be educated and factories will require capital expenditure

Seeking balance between controlled, skewed pricing in favour of urea

Some in the industry fear a return of controls while others see positives in a govt circular, but the bigger issue is the skewed pricing in favour of urea

Don't mislead farmers over neem-coated urea price: Mandaviya to Akhilesh

Fertiliser Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday made it clear that neem-coated urea is currently sold at Rs 266.5 per 45 kg bag and the same rates will continue, while hitting back at Samajwadi Party (SP) National President Akhilesh Yadav for misleading farmers over the issue. Responding to Samajwadi Party President's January 7th post on X, Mandaviya wrote on the social media platform, "First of all, I want to make it clear to you that neem-coated urea was available at Rs 266.5 per 45 kg bag, is available now, and will continue to be available." The research has led to development of new sulfur-coated 'Urea Gold' in the interest of farmers, he said and added that its new quantity and price have been decided. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, the SP leader had raised questions on the vaccine made in the country. The entire country and scientists have not been able to forget, he wrote on X. "Today again you have made fun of the same scientists. I hope that you will not mislead the

Urea production rises to 284,950 tonne in 2022-23: Parliament informed

India's urea production has increased to 284.95 lakh tonnes last fiscal from 225.08 lakh tonnes in 2014-15, the government informed Lok Sabha on Friday. In written replies, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Bhagwanth Khuba said the central government ensures adequate availability of urea to meet the requirements of states/Union Territories. To increase the availability of urea through indigenous sources, the Centre announced New Investment Policy (NIP) - 2012 to facilitate fresh investment in the urea sector and to make India self sufficient in the sector. "A total of 6 new urea units have been set up under NIP - 2012, which together have added 76.2 lakh tonnes per annum in the existing indigenous urea production capacity of the country. "In addition, Government of India also introduced the New Urea Policy (NUP)-2015 on 25th May, 2015 with one of the objectives of maximising indigenous urea production. As a result, the indigenous production of the country increased f

Nano urea will help farmers switch to natural farming, says Amit Shah

The nano urea and nano DAP introduced by IFFCO will help farmers adopt natural farming without compromising on production, Union cooperation minister Amit Shah has said. He was speaking after inaugurating a nano DAP (diammonium phosphate liquid ) manufacturing plant at the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited's (IFFCO) unit at Kalol in Gujarat's Gandhinagar district on Tuesday. It is the world's first such plant, IFFCO said in a statement. When a list of the biggest experiments in the field of agriculture will be prepared ten years from now, I can say with certainty that IFFCO's nano urea and nano DAP will find a place in it," he said. The need of the hour was to reduce the use of urea and move towards natural farming, the Union minister added. If you want to move towards natural farming without reducing the production for three years (period needed to prepare the soil for such farming), then use nano urea and nano DAP, Shah said. Nano urea does not percolate into the gro

China slows fertiliser exports, raising concerns for Indian industries

As the world's largest producer of urea, China accounts for about a third of global supplies of the nitrogen-based fertiliser, which is critical to growing crops

L&T wins 'significant' order to build 2.3 mn tonne urea plant in Australia

Diversified group L&T on Monday said it has secured a "significant" order from Perdaman Chemicals & Fertilisers to build a 2.3 million tonne urea plant in Australia. On completion, this facility will be the largest urea plant in Australia and one of the largest in the world, the company said. Without disclosing the deal value, L&T said it was a "a significant order". Generally, significant order indicates a value between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,500 crore. "We've adopted a policy to not reveal commercial details of contracts as the value can change by the time of completion," L&T Group Chairman and Managing Director-Designate, SN Subrahmanyan said. The contract has been awarded by Italian firm Saipem & Clough -- the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractor of Perdaman, which is an Indian-owned company. L&T' Energy Hyrdocarbon contract involves fabrication and supply of process and piperack modules for the 2.30 MT per annum urea plant along with a ...

Centre asks states to promote organic farming, stop urea diversion

Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday urged states to promote organic farming for preservation of soil health and make efforts to reduce use of chemical fertilisers. The minister also asked states to take up effective steps to curtail diversion of urea meant for agriculture and farmers, to other sectors, according to an official statement. Mandaviya said this while virtually interacting with agriculture ministers of states and Union Territories on the recent decisions made by the Cabinet regarding fertiliser sector. On June 28, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a new scheme, PM-PRANAM to incentivise states to promote alternative fertilisers and reduce the use of chemical fertilisers and also decided to continue the current urea subsidy scheme for three years ending March 2025, with an outlay of Rs 3.68 lakh crore. That apart, CCEA approved an outlay of Rs 1,451 crore subsidy to promote organic manure, taking the total package t

India looking at low fertiliser subsidy burden, less urea import in FY24

Urea is the most widely consumed fertiliser in the country, which is followed by DAP

India's FY24 urea imports likely to dip by 33%, say trade sources

According to trade and industry sources, in FY24 domestic production is expected to be around 30 million tonnes, up from the more than 28 million tonnes in FY23

Boosting productivity

Nano-fertilisers will improve efficiency

IFFCO to export nano urea to 25 nations, expects 30 cr bottles output: MD

Fertiliser major IFFCO Ltd is eyeing nano urea exports to 25 countries and expecting that output is likely to be 30 crore bottles by December 2024, a top company official said on Tuesday. The company is currently exporting the fertiliser to five countries, he said. "We have already produced six crore bottles of 500 ml each and have sold five crore units to farmers, which is equivalent to 22 lakh tonne of solid urea or conventional urea...We are already exporting to Sri Lanka, Nepal, Kenya, Suriname and Mexico," Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) Managing Director US Awasthi told PTI in an interview. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the world's first nano urea plant at Kalol in Gujarat last year, the company is exporting the fertiliser product, which has the potential to cut down the use of conventional urea, the most used Nitrogenous fertiliser, by 50 per cent or more, to the five nations, he said. Nano urea samples have been sent to 25 other countries and

Govt allows fertiliser entities to file bill of entries for urea imports

Fertiliser marketing entities (FME), authorised by the government, have been allowed to file bill of entries at Indian ports for import of urea for agriculture purpose on government account, according to a notification of the commerce ministry issued on Tuesday. This new provision was added in the import policy condition of urea. A bill of entry is a legal document filed by importers or customs clearance agents on or before the arrival of imported goods. "FMEs, authorised by the department of fertilisers, have been allowed to file bill of entries at Indian ports for import of urea (for agriculture purpose) on government account," the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) said in notification.

Govt seeks discount in rare one-year urea import tender: Industry sources

The tender seeking discounts on supplies in a year from March 1 will close on Jan. 23, with offers remaining valid until Feb. 5, the document shows

Cost advantages

Nano-fertilisers will reduce subsidy outgo

Nano liquid urea cheaper, better, saves govt subsidy: Mansukh Mandaviya

Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday stressed on the need to promote nano liquid urea in place of conventional granular urea, saying that it is better, cheaper, convenient and will help the government in saving a huge amount of subsidy. In June 2021, cooperative IFFCO launched nano urea as an alternative to conventional urea. It has also set up manufacturing plants to produce nano urea. IFFCO is selling nano urea at Rs 240 per bottle of 500 ml, which can replace one bag of conventional urea of 45kg costing around Rs 265. There is no government subsidy on nano urea. While virtually interacting with four farmers and two owners of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samruddhi Kendras (PMKSK) from different states, Mandaviya enquired about the availability of various fertilisers including nano urea and also whether farmers were getting other advisory services at these centres. Under an scheme, around 3 lakh retail fertiliser shops in the country are getting converted i

India imports 4.61 mn tonnes of urea in April-November this fiscal

Urea production stood at 187.21 lakh tonnes during April-November period of this fiscal, while imports were at 46.14 lakh tonnes to meet domestic demand. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Bhagwanth Khuba shared the data for consumption, production and import of urea in the last three years. As per the data, urea production stood at 250.72 lakh tonnes in the 2021-22 fiscal as against 246.05 lakh tonnes in 2020-21 and 244.58 lakh tonnes in the 2019-20 financial year. Urea imports stood at 91.36 lakh tonnes in the last fiscal, 98.28 lakh tonnes in 2020-21 and 91.23 lakh tonnes in 2019-20. Urea is presently sold in 45-kg bags and the maximum retail price (MRP) is Rs 242 per bag (excluding charges towards neem coating and taxes as applicable). "The subsidy provided per 45kg bag of urea is approximately Rs 1800 (Q1 of 2022-23)," the minister said. The difference between the production cost and MRP is reimbursed as subsidy to fertilis