THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS (SHRI RAMESH BAIS)
(a)&(b) Urea is the only fertilizer which is under statutory price and movement control
and whose imports are made on Government account to bridge the gap between requirement
and indigenous availability through designated canalizing agencies namely M/s MMTC Ltd.,
M/s State Trading Corporation Ltd. (STC), and M/s Indian Potash Ltd. (IPL). The quantity of urea imports in the last three years along with the expenditure incurred thereon is as under:
Year Urea (LMT) Expenditure (Rs crores)
1997-98 23.89 729.36 1998-99 5.56 125.00 1999-2000 (P) 5.33 74.07
LMT= lakh MTs P=Provisional
The agency-wise imports and the C&F prices at which these imports were made in the last
three years is indicated below:
1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000
Agency Quanty Weighted Quanty Weighted Qntity Weighted (LMT) average C&F (LMT) average C&F (LMT) average C&F Price (US$) Price (US $) Price (US $)
MMTC 11.04 151.30 2.58 100.74 2.33 86.43
STC 9.98 153.37 1.50 100.67 1.02 86.43
IPL 2.87 139.66 1.48 99.60 1.98 85.50
LMT= lakh MTs
The countries from where import of urea were made during last three years were Libya,
CIS, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E and Iran.
The other major fertilizers namely DAP and MOP have been decontrolled since
24.8.1992 and their imports decanalized with effect from 17.9.1992 and 17.6.1993
respectively. The imports of these fertilizers are made freely on private trade account
within the parameters of the concession scheme of Department of Agriculture and
Cooperation (DAC). As these fertilizers are decontrolled, Department of Fertilizers does not maintain details regarding the prices, expenditure and sources of imports. On
the basis of available information, quantities of DAP and MOP imported in the last
three years were as under:
Year DAP (LMT) MOP (LMT)
1997-98 14.60 19.00 1998-99 21.05 25.70 1999-2000 (P) 32.68 28.98
LMT = lakh MTs P = Provisional
DAP imports were from Jordan, USA, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, C.I.S, South Korea, South
Africa and Senegal and that of MOP were from Canada, Jordan, Germany, Israel and C.I.S.
(c)&(d): No imports of urea have been made so far in the current year. However
according to details appearing in the Fertilizers Market Bulletin and other weekly bulletins,
prices of prilled urea have firmed up and are being quoted currently in the range of the US
$133-136 (Rs 5985-6120 per tonne) by C.I.S producers on FOB basis and US $130-140 (Rs
5850-6300 per tonne) by the A G producers on FOB basis. Against this, the weighted average
retention price of domestic urea is Rs 8218 per tonne as on 1.4.2000. Administrative Pricing
Mechanism in the Petroleum sector has been dismantled with effect from September 1997 and
the prices are governed by import parity prices. The supply of gas in the country, which is the
preferred stock for fertilizer production, is dwindling. Hence the Government have limited
control on pricing of feedstock, which is the major constituent in the cost of production of
indigenous urea, to minimize the difference in the price of indigenous and imported urea. The
weighted average cost of production of domestic urea is high because nearly 40% of the
indigenous urea capacity is based on naphtha and fuel oil.
