No Fertiliser Shortage Amid Rising Red Sea Crisis, Says Mandaviya

India will have no shortage of fertilisers critical for the country's food security as there are adequate reserves amid a deepening Red Sea crisis, which has upended global trade, delayed shipments and stoked logistics costs, Union minister for health, fertilisers and chemicals Mansukh Mandaviya said on Wednesday.

- Zia Haq

The minister said the longerterm impacts of crises in the Black Sea and Red Sea were not possible to foretell, but current inventories were more than sufficient to cover both the ongoing winter or rabi season as well as the coming June-September kharif farming cycle.

The Union government has set up an interministerial group anchored in the commerce ministry to monitor the crisis, which is tnessing a violent regional spillover of Israel's war with Hamas, HT had reported on Tuesday.

The Red Sea, which leads up to the Suez Canal, lies on the east-west trade route from Asia to Europe. About 80% of India's shipping traffic accesses the Suez Canal via the Red Sea. Most Indian exports are now going around the Cape of Good Hope, adding up to 6000 nautical miles and 14 days extra.