Fertiliser prices slashed by up to Rs5,000 per tonne: minister

There is good news for farmers in the country – the prices of essential fertilisers such as DAP and MOP will come down with immediate effect with enough availability of all the required fertilisers in the country.

According to the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers, the prices of DAP, MOP and NPK fertilisers have been reduced substantially and approximately Rs4,500 crore worth of benefit have been transferred to farmers at large annually, the first time in 15 years, minister of chemicals and fertilizers Ananth Kumar informed the media today.

The minister said major public sector fertiliser manufacturers - RCF, NFL - have decided to bring down the MRP of DAP fertilizer by Rs2,500 per tonne and that of MOP by Rs5,000 per tonne with immediate effect. Other fertiliser manufacturers have also agreed to bring down the price of MOP by Rs5,000 per tonne

For DAP, fertiliser companies have agreed to reduce the MRP by more than Rs2500 per tonne. They said that now MOP 50 Kg bag will cost Rs250 less and DAP 50 Kg bag price will be reduced by Rs125 per 50-kg bag.

The minister said he has directed the department to convene meetings at regular intervals to ensure that farmers are passed on maximum benefits by the company's manufacturing MOP, DAP and NPK fertilisers.

On an average, the farmers in our country use around 10 million tonnes of DAP, 2.5 million tonnes of MOP and 9 million tonnes of NPK fertilisers annually.

There is also enough availability of all the required fertilisers like urea, DAP, MOP, NPK etc in the country and the government will ensure that there will not be any shortage of fertilisers in our country for the coming Kharif season, the minister informed the media today.

Addressing the press after a high-level meeting to review the availability of fertilisers today, the minister stated that farmers can now plan their sowing without any apprehension on this account.

While expressing satisfaction over the availability of urea, MOP and DAP and other fertiliser, the ministers also said the government is all geared up to ensure unhindered and assured supply of all the fertilisers.

The meeting, which participated leading fertiliser manufacturers was held to emphasise that farmers must get the benefit of reduced input cost of DAP and MOP.