India to sign long-term deal for buying key fertilizer input from Mauritania
₹1.64 trillion for fertilizer subsidy. India already has entered into long-term agreements with Morocco, Senegal, Israel, Oman, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Jordan in the past two years as part of this playbook. Though India is moving toward gaining self-sufficiency in urea, it still depends on imports to meet its rock phosphate demand.
“To meet our rock phosphate demand, in the past two years, we have entered long-term contracts with several countries, including Morocco, Jordan, Oman, Russia and Saudi Arabia. We keep exploring new countries so that there is no dependency on one or certain countries. Now we are looking at Egypt and Mauritania to sign a long-term agreement for three years to improve the availability of phosphatic fertilizers like DAP (Di-ammonium phosphate) and NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) as these countries have rock phosphate and phosphoric acid," Mandaviya said “Under the joint venture, both private and public players will do the mining, produce and bring the fertilizers to India.
Fertilizer security in today’s time is one of the biggest issues. With long-term agreements, supply is assured. It not only brings self-sufficiency to a country but also helps the country to ensure that there is no supply crunch during crises (of the kind) that we have witnessed during covid-19, Russia-Ukraine war and now the Red Sea crisis," Madaviya added.
Rock Phosphate is the key raw material for DAP and NPK fertilizers. Volatility in international prices affects domestic prices of fertilizers and hinders the progress and development of agriculture in a country which is 90% dependent on fertilizer imports. Data from the department of chemicals and fertilizers showed that India’s fertilizer requirement is around
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