India’s urea imports from Iran jumped more than ninefold to 572,000 tons in the first quarter of 2015.
India had imported a mere 61,000 tons of the fertilizer from Iran in the similar period of last year, the Indian daily Economic Times reported.
Pricing played its part too. India shipped in urea from Iran through two different tenders this year. In May, 337,000 tons of urea was imported at $267 per ton while in June, imports stood at 235,000 tons for $299 per ton. Both tenders were less than the last average price of $304 per ton.
Total shipments from Iran in 2014-15 reached 652,000 tons, less than 10% of the total urea imports of 8.74 million tons in the same year.
India’s annual urea demand is about 30 million tons while production in the country remained at 22 million tons. The rest is met through imports.
With the landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers, India’s import of urea from Iran this year is expected to touch 1 million tons.
Urea is a controlled commodity in India as it is imported by the government itself. The difference between the cost of production and the retail price is paid as subsidy to manufacturers.
