Russia becomes India’s top fertilizer supplier – official

Russia has become the largest supplier of mineral fertilizers to India, the head of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO), part of India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, told TASS news agency on Thursday.

Dr. Ajay Sahai said Russian fertilizer exports to New Delhi amounted to over $3 billion in the fiscal year 2022-2023.

“Russia leads in fertilizer shipments, as of 2022-2023 fiscal year. Russia is in the first place, followed by China, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Morocco,” Sahai was cited as saying. He noted that shipments from Saudi Arabia and China amounted to around $2 billion each.

Among the nutrients India buys from Russia are nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, ammonium phosphates and urea, Sahai explained, adding that Russia offers “good, competitive prices” for its products.

As an agrarian country, India is one of the largest consumers of agricultural fertilizers in the world. It is also among the largest producers, although most of its nutrients are used domestically. According to March data from the country’s Ministry of Chemical Industries and Fertilizers, India imported 34 million tons of fertilizers from Russia in April-February 2022-2023, the largest volume in the past three years.

Russia has increased its fertilizer production by 40% over the past decade, to an average of 55 million tons a year, Andrey Guryev, the head of the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers, said last month. The output boost has made the country the world’s second-largest nutrients producer, according to the official.

“We overtook the United States and India in production, and today we are the largest producer of mineral fertilizers in the world after China,” he said, adding that the country plans to further raise production to 70 million tons over the next five years.

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