Fertiliser shortage fear looms

SUPPLIES OF KEY fertilisers and their raw materials in India may face a crunch in the coming months if the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key import route from the Gulf countries, is prolonged.

- SANDIP DAS

The disruption is likely to hit supplies of urea and diammonium phosphate (DAP) in the forthcoming kharif season (June-September), industry representatives said.

There is no immediate shortage of critical fertilisers in the country because farmers are currently in the “lean period” for using soil nutrients. However, the impasse on imports of LNG from Qatar poses a serious problem. Industry players said that if imports of feedstock such as LNG, crucial for urea production, from Qatar and other Gulf countries don’t resume and DAP imports from Saudi Arabia are not normalised, fertiliser supplies would begin to reduce by April-May.