TL;DR The West Asia conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran is disrupting global fertiliser supply chains, exposing India’s heavy import dependence. With rising prices, LNG-linked production risks, and a gap between available stocks and seasonal demand, concerns are growing over fertiliser availability and its impact on agriculture and food prices.

Context

The ongoing tensions involving the United States, Israel, and Iran have begun to disrupt global fertiliser markets, with significant implications for India. The conflict has affected key shipping routes such as the Strait of Hormuz, through which a large share of fertiliser inputs like natural gas, ammonia, and sulfur are transported. For India, which is one of the world’s largest consumers of fertilisers and a key importer, this has translated into supply uncertainties, rising global prices, and increased pressure on domestic production. Dependence on imports of urea and phosphatic fertilisers, coupled with higher input costs, has prompted the government to step up subsidies and secure additional imports.

As the situation unfolds, concerns are growing over fertiliser availability ahead of key agricultural seasons, with potential downstream effects on crop output and food prices. In this backdrop, we look at India’s production, import, and consumption of fertilisers.

Who compiles this data?
Fertiliser data in India is compiled by the Department of Fertilisers under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers. The data is also available in the Ministry of Finance’s Economic Survey.

Where can I download clean & structured data related to this?

Clean, standardised, structured, and ready-to-use datasets on the production of different types of fertilisers, imports and consumption are available on Dataful. The platform offers a comprehensive collection of datasets on fertiliser production and subsidies, including information on total production, subsidy expenditure, and per-kilogram rates under the Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS) scheme.

Key Insights

• Total consumption of all fertilisers (Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K), collectively NPK) increased by approximately 28.5%, rising from about 25.6 million tonnes in 2014–15 to around 32.9 million tonnes in 2024–25. Over the same period, domestic production grew by around 33%. Despite this growth, production meets only about two-thirds of total demand, leaving India reliant on imports to bridge the remaining gap.

• India has no known commercial reserves of potash and is 100% dependent on imports from Canada, Russia, Israel and Jordan. India’s average consumption of potassic fertilisers in the last ten years has been around 2.5 million tonnes.

• Nitrogenous fertilisers account for the bulk of consumption, with usage crossing 22 million tonnes in 2024–25, far higher than other categories. Its domestic production stagnated around 13 million tonnes from 2015-16 to 2021-22, but surged to 17 million tonnes in 2023-24 and 2024-25. Overall, domestic production has met roughly 70–80% of total consumption, covering about three-fourths of the demand in most years. Meanwhile, India’s imports of nitrogenous fertilisers have declined over the past five years.

• With respect to phosphatic fertilisers, India’s consumption has hovered between 7.8 and 8.9 million tonnes. However, domestic production maxes out at around 4.7 to 5.1 million tonnes, leaving India dependent on imports for covering 30% to 40% of total consumption.

Why does it matter?

The Middle East crisis has exposed India’s agricultural vulnerability, given its reliance on the Gulf for LNG and fertilisers. In the parliament, the government stated that there is adequate stock to meet the requirements in the ongoing Rabi season and beyond. According to a press release, the government stated that there is an estimated demand of 39-million-tonne requirement for the 2026 Kharif season against the current 18-million-tonne stockpiles. The government plans to utilise the lean agricultural months to increase the inventory. According to official releases, mitigation measures include diversifying global sourcing via long-term agreements, rerouting shipments from Russia, and securing alternative gas supplies to restore domestic urea production. Authorities have also established a monitoring war room and issued anti-hoarding directives, asserting that adequate supplies will be maintained without price hikes.

Key Numbers

• Total NPK consumption: 25.6 MT (2014–15) → 32.9 MT (2024–25)

• Domestic supply: ~65–70% | Imports: ~30–35%

• Nitrogen use: 22+ MT (2024–25)

• Phosphatic gap: ~30–40% via imports

• Potassic: 100% import-dependent (~2.5 MT avg)