Urea imports fall 35% in FY'17; may remain flat this fiscal

India's c imports fell 35 per cent to 54.81 lakh tonnes last fiscal and the shipments may remain at same level in 2017-18, the government said today.

The country imported 84.74 lakh tonnes in 2015-16, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

"The quantity of urea likely to be imported during the current year may remain at last year's level i.e 55 lakh tonnes, if the requirement remains constant at last year's level," he said.

The fund earmarked for this purpose is Rs 14,000 crore during the current fiscal.

The minister said the department is currently examining a proposal to reduce the quantity in a urea bag to 45 kg from the current 50 kg as part of its objective to reduce consumption and encourage farmers to go for balance fertilisation.

In a separate question, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh L Mandaviya said the urea availability was 80.28 lakh tonnes during April-June period of this fiscal as compared to the requirement of 63.64 lakh tonnes.

He said the supply of urea has been more than the requirement in last three years as well as during the current year.

During last fiscal, urea production stood at 242.01 lakh tonnes, DAP (Di-ammonium phosphate) at 43.66 lakh tonnes and complex fertilisers at 79.46 lakh tonnes.

In the first quarter 2017-18, urea production stood at 55.60 lakh tonnes, DAP at 13.35 lakh tonnes and complex fertilisers at 15.91 lakh tonnes.