The Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizers, Shri Nihal Chand has said that urea is the only fertilizer under statutory price control and it is imported for direct agriculture use on Government account through State Trading Enterprises (STEs) i.e. MMTC Limited (MMTC), State Trading Corporation Limited (STC) and Indian Potash Limited (IPL) to bridge the gap between assessed demand and indigenous production. Government is also importing approximately 20 LMT urea from Oman India Fertiliser Company (OMIFCO) under Long Term Urea Off Take Agreement (UOTA) between GOI & OMIFCO. The import of urea from OMIFCO is made through M/s IFFCO & M/s KRIBHCO. The year-wise quantity and value of urea imported during the last three years and current year (up to May, 2014) are as under:-
Year
Quantity of urea (Lakh MT)
Value (Million US $)
From Oman
Through STE
Total
2011-12
20.69
57.65
78.34
3,222.48
2012-13
18.33
62.11
80.44
3,009.49
2013-14
21.21
49.67
70.88
1,968.36
2014-15*
3.41
11.49
14.90
439.94
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today, Shri Nihal Chand said, Fertilizers other than Urea are imported under Open General Licence (OGL). Companies import these fertilizers as per their commercial judgment. Government do not maintain the value of these imports. However, Government is paying subsidy on P&K fertilizers under Nutrient Based Subsidy Scheme. The year-wise details of quantity of P&K fertilizers imported during the last three years and current year (up to May, 2014) is as under:-
(Quantity in Lakh MT)
Year
DAP
TSP
NPK
MOP #
MAP
2011-12
69.05
1.60
36.73
26.93
4.94
2012-13
57.02
0.00
4.05
18.80
1.52
2013-14
32.61
0.00
3.62
20.67
0.39
2014-15*
3.30
0.00
0.33
3.07
0.00
* up to May, 2014
# for direct agriculture use
Companies who imported these fertilizers during the last three years are Agrigold Organics Pvt. Ltd, Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd, Coromandel Internation Ltd, Deepak Fertilizers & Petrochemicals Ltd, Greenstar Fertilizer Ltd., Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd, HINDALCO/Indo Gulf Fertilizers Ltd, HPM Chemicals & Fertilizes, Indian Farmers Fertilsers Cooperative Ltd, Indian Potash Ltd, KPR Fertilizers Ltd, Krishak Bharati Cooperative, Mangalore Chemicals &Fertilizers Ltd., Mosaic India Pvt. Ltd, Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd, Paradeep Phosphates Ltd, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd, Shriram Ferts & Chemicals, Sunfert International Pvt.Ltd, Tata Chemicals Ltd, Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd.
He said that the countries from where the fertilizers have been imported during the last three years and current year are Australia, Bahrain, Belarus, China, Canada, Chile, CIS, Egypt, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Russia, S. Arabia, S. Africa, Singapore, Spain, Turkey, Tunisia, UAE, USA UK, Tallinn, Ukraine, Ventspils and Vietnam.
Shri Nihal Chand said that urea, DAP and other NPK fertilisers are being imported to bridge the gap between assessed demand and the indigenous availabilities of these fertilizers. The entire requirement of MOP in the country is met through imports as there are no viable reserves of potash in the country.
The Minister said, the quality of the fertilizers is checked at load ports by the surveyors appointed by the importers. Besides this the Fertilizer Inspectors of Central Fertilizer Quality Control and Training Institute (CFQC&TI) Faridabad and the Regional Fertilizer Quality Control laboratories at Mumbai, Kalyani and Chennai regularly inspect and collect fertilizer samples for quality check from all the fertilizer vessels discharging at Indian ports.