Centre holds fertilizer prices steady to shield farmers from volatile global market

NEW DELHI: There is no change in the retail prices of major fertilisers in India despite a sharp rise in global prices as the government is committed to shielding farmers from global price volatility while ensuring affordability and accessibility, the Ministry of Fertilisers announced on Monday.

Despite a sharp rise in global fertiliser prices -- where international prices of urea have exceeded Rs 4,000 per bag -- the government continues to supply urea to farmers at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 266.5 per 45 kg bag, a ministry statement said.

Fertiliser availability remains robust, with supplies continuing to exceed the requirements. For kharif 2026, the fertiliser requirement has been assessed by the Agriculture Ministry at 390.54 lakh metric tonnes (LMT), and against this, as on Monday, the stock is around 190 LMT (49 per cent), significantly higher than the usual level of about 33 per cent. This reflects improved planning, advance stocking, and efficient logistics management by the government, the statement said.

The supply position continues to be strong in the states. For the period April 1 to April 26, availability remains substantially higher than the requirement.

Urea availability is 71.40 LMT against a requirement of 20.54 LMT, DAP availability is 23.09 LMT against 6.67 LMT requirement, MOP availability is 8.38 LMT against 1.96 LMT requirement, NPK availability is 53.40 LMT against 8.43 LMT requirement, and SSP availability is 25.78 LMT against 3.73 LMT requirement. This clearly indicates a strong opening position for the ongoing kharif season, the statement said. (IANS)

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