Fertiliser companies contract 140 lakh tonnes imports since 1 April
30 Apr 2010
Fertiliser companies have contracted to import nearly 140 lakh tonnes of fertiliser since 1 April to meet domestic demand, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
"During the year 2010-11, 68.35 lakh tonnes of DAP, 61.07 lakh tonnes of MOP and 10.23 lakh tonnes of NPK fertilisers have already been contracted," minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers Srikant Kumar Jena said in a written reply.
As on 1 April, the country had an opening stock of 2.21 lakh tonnes of urea, 1.97 lakh tonnes of DAP, 0.97 lakh tonnes of MOP and 1.24 lakh tonnes of complex fertilisers, he added.
In a separate reply, the minister said the government has fixed nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) policy, effective 1 April 2010, in such a manner that the maximum retail price fixed by the companies is near to earlier levels.
"A marginal increase of Rs30 per bag only has taken place. In case of MOP, no increase has taken place and in case of SSP there is a reduction of Rs70 per bag," it added.
Under the NBS scheme, the government provides subsidy to manufacturers of potassic and phosphatic fertilisers on the basis of the amount of nutrients contained in them.