Indian farmers bought record 655.94 lakh tonnes fertilizers in FY25

Import of urea, controlled by the government, was recorded at 56.47 lt during April to March (2024-25) as against 70.42 lt year-ago, a fall of 19.8 per cent.

India’s fertilizer consumption saw a marginal one per cent rise against the estimated demand in FY24-25, despite a record 9 per cent jump in sales compared to last year. The surge is sales is attributed to the supplies of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), Muriate of Potash (MOP), and Complex, though these could not fully meet farmers’ expectations.

According to the latest official data, sales of urea reached 387.92 lakh tonnes (lt) during last fiscal, marking an 8.4 per cent increase from 357.81 lt in 2023-24. Sales of Muriate of Potash were up 33.9 per cent to 22.02 lt from 16.44 lt, and Complex (combination of all nutrients) saw 28.2 per cent increase to 149.72 lt from 116.8 lt. However, sales of di-ammonium phosphatedropped to 96.28 lt from 109.74, mainly due to scarcity till mid-November 2024.

Hitting new highs

These total sales of these fertilizers stood at an all-time high of 655.94 lt in FY25, as against 600.79 lt in FY24, up by 9.2 per cent. The previous high was 621.91 lt in 2020-21 during Covid pandemic.

However, when sales were analysed against estimated demand, it was found that a minimal one per cent rise has been reported as total 649.44 lt of fertilizers were required as per the States’ estimates of consumption for 2024-25 — which included 321.45 lt in Kharif and 327.99 lt in Rabi season.

Only sales of urea were 6.6 per cent higher from estimated demand of 364.01 lt during FY25, whereas DAP consumption dropped 14 per cent from 111.92 lt of demand, that of MOP and Complex dipped 1 per cent each from their respective demand estimates of 22.21 lt and 151.29 lt.

Import of urea, controlled by the government, was recorded at 56.47 lt during April to March (2024-25) as against 70.42 lt year-ago, a fall of 19.8 per cent. There was record import of urea at 98.28 lt during 2020-21.

Imports down

Import of overall fertilizers also dropped 9.7 per cent to 152.22 lt from 168.49 lt, in which DAP dipped 17.1 per cent to 45.69 lt from 55.14 lt. But, MOP import surged 29.8 per cent to 27.34 lt from 21.06 lt and complex rose 3.9 per cent at 22.72 lt from 21.87 lt.

Production of all fertilizers was up by 2.9 per cent at 517.83 lt in FY25 as against 503.31 lt in the previous year, which included urea at 306.67 lt (against 314.07 lt in FY24), DAP 37.68 lt (42.93 lt), Complex 113.29 lt (95.48 lt), Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 52.43 lt (44.45 lt) and Ammonium Sulphate 7.76 lt (6.38 lt).

Against 120 lt of installed SSP capacity by 101 units, the production has not been moving up and is around 50-55 lt per annum in past many years, which the industry attributed to low preference by farmers vis-a-vis DAP.

Published on April 22, 2025