India has enough urea stock until May as 1 million tonnes reach ports

New Delhi: India has received around 1 million tonnes of urea since the start of the West Asia war and has enough stock to meet demand until May but would need fresh imports for the monsoon season when demand peaks, industry executives said. The shipments - from countries including Russia, Egypt, Qatar and Nigeria - were based on tenders issued before the conflict. They have now reached Indian ports.

"These shipments, together with the urea that we produce domestically, should be enough till May," said a senior executive of a fertiliser firm.

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The government is expected to float a fresh import tender to meet demand from June onwards, though there is no clear timeline.

Urea imports are handled through a structured electronic bidding process run by state-owned trading firms such as Indian Potash, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers, and National Fertilisers on behalf of the government. Global bids are then submitted on a government portal, followed by evaluation and purchase orders.

Meanwhile, disruptions in LNG and LPG supplies and rising prices due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on gas fields are threatening to hit production of urea as natural gas is the primary feedstock to make urea.

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The government has decided to purchase spot gas after the domestic manufacturing of urea took a hit as LNG supply has been cut by 40% amid disruption in gas imports from the country's largest supplier Qatar, people aware of the development said.

India has around 5.5 million metric tonnes of opening stock of urea and needs to produce around 1.6 million metric tonnes every month to meet the demand for the kharif planting season, according to industry's estimates.