Urea to be sold in 45-kg bag from this month

Urea, the commonly used and highly subsidised fertiliser, will be sold in the market in a 45-kg bag instead of 50-kg from this month, a move aimed to cut its consumption and promote balanced use of fertilisers.

A 45-kg urea bag will be sold at Rs 242 excluding taxes, a government notification said.

The price is determined on the basis of government's fixed price of Rs 5,360 per tonne. The Centre bears the difference between the maximum retail price (MRP) and cost of production.

A senior fertiliser ministry official said fertiliser companies will be allowed to sell the old stock of 50-kg bags for next two months.

The purpose is to reduce urea consumption and promote balanced use of fertilisers. Since urea is cheaper than other fertilisers, farmers are using this product widely, he said.

"Normally, farmers use urea by counting number of bags for each hectare of land. When farmers are told to reduce the number of 50-kg bags, they do not listen. So, the government has decided to promote use of 45-kg bag as a trick to reduce consumption," he added.

As per the notification, the sale of 45-kg bag is effective March 1, 2018.

The government has also permitted dealers to sell urea in smaller quantities not exceeding 25 kg.

Dealers can charge Rs 1.50 per packing of 2 kg urea, Rs 2.25 for 5kg, Rs 3.50 for 10 kg and Rs 5 for 25 kg urea.

Annual urea subsidy is around Rs 40,000 crore. The country is producing over 24 million tonne of urea since last year and importing around 6 million tonne to meet the domestic demand.