India's urea imports from China hit 3-year high, Russian supplies also surge

India imported 21.24 lakh tonne of urea from China between April 2025 and February 2026, the highest in three years, even as total fertiliser imports from China and Russia rose sharply this fiscal year, as per the government data placed before Parliament on Friday.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Fertilisers Anupriya Patel said that India had sourced fertilisers from both countries, with Chinese urea imports dramatically outpacing the 0.99 lakh tonne recorded in the full fiscal year 2024-25 and also exceeding 18.65 lakh tonne in 2023-24 and 12.80 lakh tonne in 2022-23.

Beyond urea, India imported 5.11 lakh tonne of Di Ammonium Phosphate (DAP), 0.28 lakh tonne of Muriate of Potash (MoP) and 9.61 lakh tonne of NPK fertiliser from China between April 2025 and February 2026, bringing total phosphatic and potassic imports to 15 lakh tonne.


Urea imports from Moscow stood at 13.99 lakh tonne till February, already higher than the 9.23 lakh tonne imported in 2024-25. India also sourced 7.55 lakh tonne of DAP, 12.97 lakh tonne of MoP and 21 lakh tonne of NPK fertilisers from Russia this fiscal year.

Total urea imports from China and Russia alone are about 35.23 lakh tonne till February of the current fiscal.

Overall, urea imports from other countries were at 56.47 lakh tonne achieved in 2024-25.

On domestic availability, the minister said approximately 432.44 lakh tonne of urea is currently available in the country against a requirement of 370.84 lakh tonne. Sales of urea through direct benefit transfer have reached 381.59 lakh tonne so far this year.

Phosphatic and potassic fertilisers are covered under the Open General Licence, allowing companies to import or manufacture them based on their own commercial assessments. PTI