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Informist, Monday, Apr. 27, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – There is sufficient fertiliser stock for the upcoming kharif season and the government is absorbing the increased cost of imports to insulate farmers from global supply disruptions, a senior official said Monday.

 

"The expected demand for fertilisers for the kharif season is 39 million tonnes," Aparna Sharma, additional secretary in the Department of Fertilisers, said at an inter-ministerial briefing on the West Asia crisis. "Against this we have 19 million tonnes in our stocks, which is 49% of the projected demand." This is higher than the usual stock of around 33% of expected demand, she said.

 

Sharma said the government has floated a global tender for 2.5 million tonnes of urea and supplies will start in May. She said the global costs of urea and of liquefied natural gas required to run fertiliser plants in India have almost doubled, but the government has kept retail fertiliser prices unchanged. "A 45 kg bag of urea is still selling at INR 266.5, while a 50 kg bag of di-ammonium phosphate is selling at INR 1,350," she said.

 

Energy prices have surged after war broke out between Iran and the US-Israel combine on Feb. 28. The situation has worsened because of the continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran.

 

Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the ministry of petroleum, said panic buying of liquefied petroleum gas and of diesel and petrol is still being reported at some places. She reiterated that the country has sufficient stocks of oil and gas and there is no need to panic.

 

Mandeep Singh Randhawa, director in the shipping ministry, said one incident involving a Togo-flagged chemical tanker was reported from the conflict zone near the Strait of Hormuz but all Indian seafarers on the vessel are safe.

 

"There are 17 Indian sailors on this ship named Mt Chiron. All are safe," Randhawa said. Per media reports, three crew members aboard the Chiron were injured after the vessel was hit by projectiles in the war zone Sunday. "No incident related to any India-flagged ships has been reported," he added.  End

 

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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