India imports 152.7 lakh ton fertilisers till Dec this fiscal: Govt

India imported 152.7 lakh tonne of fertiliser, including urea and P&K, till December of the current fiscal, Parliament was informed on Friday. Sharing data in his written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Bhagwant Khuba said: "The country imported 62.44 lakh tonne of urea and 90.26 lakh tonne of phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers during April-December period of the current fiscal".

Among P&K fertilisers, the country imported 53.18 lakh tonne of Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), 16.22 lakh tonne of Muriate of Potash (MoP) and 20.86 lakh tonne of NPK soil nutrients till December of the current fiscal.

In the case of domestic production, the minister said the country's total fertiliser production reached 362.73 lakh tonne during the April-December period of this fiscal. This includes 210.98 lakh tonne of urea and 151.75 lakh tonne of P&K fertilisers.

During 2021-22, the total domestic fertiliser production stood at 435.95 lakh tonne, while imports stood at 182.28 lakh tonne. The minister said, "There is adequate availability of fertilisers in the country," in a separate reply.

The availability of fertilisers has remained comfortable in Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the ongoing 2022-23 rabi (winter) season, he said. However, there was a higher demand for fertiliser in Rajashtan in view of the good monsoon. As a result, the requirement of urea and DAP rose from 13 lakh tonne to 14.5 tonne, from 3 lakh tonne to 4.5 lakh tonne, respectively, for the ongoing rabi season in Rajasthan, he said in a separate reply. He also mentioned that there is no proposal to shift urea to the Nutrient Based Fertiliser scheme.

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