Adequate urea stocks in country; no need to import till December: Food Minister Mansukh Mandaviya

The Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday said that the country has sufficient stocks of urea to meet domestic requirements and there is no need for imports till December.

The Chemicals and Fertilizers ministry informed that states have a stock of 70 lakh metric tonnes of urea.

"There is adequate availability of urea in the country. We have urea stocks to meet domestic requirements till December. We do not need to import till December," Mandaviya told reporters.

The government has already imported 16 lakh tonnes of urea, which will be shipped in the next 45 days, the minister said. Whereas 25 lakh metric tonnes of urea are being produced per month.

According to a senior fertiliser ministry official, approximately 175 lakh tonnes of urea will be produced till December.

Moreover, the official said that 6 lakh tonnes of urea will be available from two new plants at Barauni and Sindri, which will be operational in October and another 20 lakh tonnes of conventional urea consumption will be replaced by liquid nano urea.

The total availability of urea is estimated at 287 lakh tonnes during June and December, while the demand is seen at 210 lakh tonnes, the official said.

(With the inputs of PTI)