NEW DELHI: India has seen a drastic rise in fertilizer imports, despite the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Imports touted at 34.19 lakh tonnes between April and February of the current fiscal, have been the highest in the last three years. Of that total number, 6.26 lakh tonnes of urea were imported up until February of the 2022-23 financial year — that's more than double what was imported during the entirety of the 2021-22 fiscal year (2.80 lakh tonnes).

India imported considerable amounts of fertilizers from Russia in 2021. According to data, Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) imports were at 7.65 lakh tonnes, Muriate of Potash (MoP) 0.43 lakh tonnes and NPK 19.85 lakh tonnes during April-February period of the current fiscal year. Urea was also among the fertilizer imports during this time period, making up for the bulk of it. The total fertilizer imports from Russia in 2021-22 were 19.15 lakh tonnes, compared to 19.15 lakh tonnes in 2020-21 and 11.91 lakh tonnes in 2019-20 fiscal year. DAP and urea are two highly consumed fertilizers in the country.

The Minister announced that the government has taken several steps to increase production of urea within the country. These include the setting up of six new urea units under the New Investment Policy. Despite this, availability of fertilizers in India has been comfortable during the 2022-23 rabi season.

Furthermore, imports are planned well in advance to bridge the gap between demand and production of fertilizers, such as urea. To ensure timely availability, state governments have been advised to coordinate with manufacturers and importers for railway rakes placement.

The government monitors the movement of all major subsidised fertilizers across the country through iFMS (Integrated Fertilizer Monitoring System), an online web-based system.