Manufacturers worried as fertiliser sales dip to three-year low

HYDERABAD: Manufacturers of complex fertilisers fear severe pressure on profit margins as sales plunge to a three-year low because of farmers shifting towards cheaper urea whose price is controlled by the government.

At the beginning of the year companies had estimated significant growth in sales due to a good monsoon and favourable global prices. But now they are grappling with a pileup of inventory of complex fertilisers, especially DAP (di-ammonium phosphate).

Industry experts attribute the sharp increase in farmers’ preference towards urea to the steep rise in market-driven prices of complex fertilisers and substantially low government-regulated prices of urea.