{"id":117239,"date":"2026-08-05T09:13:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T03:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=117239"},"modified":"2026-08-05T09:14:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T03:44:24","slug":"fertiliser-crisis-during-the-west-asia-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/fertiliser-crisis-during-the-west-asia-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Fertiliser Crisis: How India Prevented Supply Disruptions During the West Asia War"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Fertiliser Crisis Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the US-Israel-Iran war and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz since February 28, 2026 \u2014 triggering arguably the greatest global energy supply shock in history \u2014 India has avoided major fertiliser shortages in the ongoing kharif season.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, while urea supply remains comfortable, the situation is more precarious for DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) and complex fertilisers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Initial Shock: Urea Production Dip<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India&#8217;s urea production <\/span><b>fell<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to 17.5 lakh tonnes (lt) in March 2026, down from 24.7 lt in March 2025.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Cause<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Disruption in liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply \u2014 the primary feedstock for urea.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before the war, 53-54% of India&#8217;s LNG imports came from Qatar and the UAE via long-term contracts, which couldn&#8217;t be honoured due to shipping blockades and damage to liquefaction infrastructure from Iranian missile\/drone strikes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Recovery Through Government Action<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Diversifying LNG Sources<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Domestic urea output recovered sharply: 21 lt (April) \u2192 25.2 lt (May) \u2192 25.4 lt (June).<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cumulative April-June 2026 production at <\/span><b>71.5 lt<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was 5.4% higher than 67.9 lt in the same period last year.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The government pushed GAIL and Indian Oil Corporation to <\/span><b>diversify LNG sourcing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 pivoting to spot market purchases from the <\/span><b>US, Oman, Nigeria, Angola, Congo, Indonesia, Trinidad, and Norway<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as Qatar\/UAE&#8217;s share fell to near-zero.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Proactive Urea Imports<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian Potash Ltd (IPL) and National Fertilizers Ltd floated tenders, securing 25 lt and 17 lt of imported urea at $935-959 and $444.9-449.3 per tonne respectively.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A third tender for 17 lt (10 lt to western ports, 7 lt to eastern ports) was issued by Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Total urea imports during April-June 2026 reached 25.1 lt<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, sharply up from just 8.4 lt in April-June 2025.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The government has also <\/span><b>absorbed higher import costs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> rather than passing them to farmers, impacting the fertiliser subsidy bill.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The DAP and Complex Fertiliser Problem<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike urea, DAP, complex fertilisers, and SSP have seen both lower domestic output and lower imports.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Rising Raw Material Costs<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Phosphoric acid<\/b> <b>import prices rose<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> steadily: from $1,055\/tonne (Jan-Mar 2025) to $1,700\/tonne (Jul-Sep 2026).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Sulphur prices are even worse<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 elevated to $500-550\/tonne (against a normal $150-250 range) even before the Iran war, due to Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and an export ban by a major supplier.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">West Asia conflict has further tightened supplies from QatarEnergy, Saudi Aramco, ADNOC, and Iran, pushing prices to around $1,100\/tonne.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Ammonia<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (source of nitrogen for complex fertilisers) prices eased to $650-700\/tonne after peaking at $850-900 in May, as supplies from Qatar, Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Maaden\/SABIC, and Iran were squeezed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Core issue<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Sulphur is essential for making sulphuric acid, which breaks down rock phosphate into phosphoric acid \u2014 without both, DAP, SSP, and complex fertiliser production is constrained.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No fresh DAP imports have been contracted since IPL&#8217;s April 28 tender secured 13.5 lt at $930-935\/tonne \u2014 notably higher than $725-750\/tonne a year earlier.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experts warn prices are unlikely to fall and may rise further.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The El Ni\u00f1o Factor: Demand-Side Relief<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond supply management, <\/span><b>subdued fertiliser demand<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has also helped avert shortages, driven by El Ni\u00f1o-induced monsoon rainfall deficiency.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All-India rainfall during June-July was 12.6% below normal, and kharif sowing area was 4.7% lower than last year.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This contrasts with 2024 and 2025 (surplus monsoon years), when ample soil moisture drove farmers to plant aggressively and queue for fertilisers, causing supply-demand mismatches and long queues.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This year, a slowdown in fertiliser offtake, combined with better government preparedness, has meant no significant shortages despite the war.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India&#8217;s proactive diversification of LNG and urea import sources helped avert a nitrogen fertiliser crisis despite an unprecedented West Asia-driven energy shock.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, persistent sulphur and phosphoric acid shortages continue to threaten DAP and complex fertiliser supply, underscoring the need for sustained government intervention \u2014 particularly with the politically sensitive rabi season and upcoming state elections ahead.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-economics\/how-india-prevented-major-fertiliser-shortages-war-el-nino-10814909\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fertiliser Crisis management through LNG diversification, higher urea imports and government action helped India avoid shortages despite the West Asia conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":99373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[9259,60,22,59],"class_list":["post-117239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-fertiliser-crisis","tag-mains-articles","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs-tag","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117239"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117244,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117239\/revisions\/117244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}