Lok Sabha Question No. 552 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-06-25
Subject: Urea Import
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar, Bidyut Baran Mahato, Sudheer Gupta

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 552 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.06.2019

## UREA IMPORT

552:

SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR: SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO: SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:

- (a) the policies/norms of the Government for the agencies importing urea from foreign countries along with the time limits, if any, fixed for the said import;
- (c) whether the Government has made any analysis to indicate the quantity of urea required per acre of land and if so, the details of the analysis; and
- (b) the estimated total quantum and value of urea likely to be imported the current Financial year in the country; during
- (d) whether the Government has taken initiatives to reduce the import of urea and if the details thereof? SO ,

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS (D.V: SADANAND GOWDA)

(a): Urea for direct agriculture use is imported on Government account through State Trading Enterprises (STEs) namely MMTC Limited (MMTC) and State Trading Corporation Limited   (STC) under the Foreign Trade   Policy of the Government. Government is also importing approximately 20 Lakh Metric Tonnes urea from Oman India Fertiliser Company (OMIFCO) under a Long Term Urea Off Take Agreement (UOTA) between GOl & OMIFCO

The Government has laid down broad guidelines for import of urea in 1997 and the statutory conditions therein have to be followed by the STEs. The  conditions mainly cover aspects of tendering relating to category of foreign suppliers, contracting with the foreign suppliers, mode of payment,timings and inspection of cargo, quality, etc\_

The Steering Committee of Secretaries (SCOS) with Secretary (Fertilizers) as Chairman, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Secretary , Department of Shipping, Member (Traffic) Railway Board, as members, is empowered to decide the quantity to be imported, based on the assessed demand and indigenous production and the of import. timing

(b): The import of urea for direct agriculture use is made on Government account to bridge the gap between assessed demand and indigenous production. The estimated total quantum and value of urea likely to be imported during the current financial year in the country is as under:

|                       |   OMAN |     STE |   Total |
|-----------------------|--------|---------|---------|
|                       |  19.09 |   46    |   65.09 |
| Value (in Million USS | 340.5  | 1272.23 | 1612.73 |

Based on three-year average of requirement and indigenous production.

(c): under which the farmers are provided with the information related to soil fertility status and recommends   appropriate dosesl quantity of fertilizers   required per hectare for a particular crop based on a set of soil tests. The quantity of fertilizers to be applied varies from crop to crop and soil to soil.

(d): The Government had announced New Investment  Policy 2012 on 2nd January, 2013 and its amendment on Zth October 2014 to facilitate fresh investment in urea sector and to make India self-sufficient in the urea sector. Under NIP\_ 2012 read with its amendment; Matix Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (Matix) has set up a Coal Bed Methane(CBM) based Greenfield Ammonia-Urea complex at Panagarh, West Bengal. The commercial production of Matix started on Ist October, 2017 . Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited has also set up a Brownfield project at Gadepan, Rajasthan: The commercial production of on 1st January, 2019. These plants are likely to add the capacity of around 12.7 LMT each to the indigenous urea production of the country:

Government of is also reviving 5 closed fertilizer   plants of Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd. (FCIL) and Hindustan Fertilizer  Corporation Ltd. (HFCL) namely Gorakhpur and Sindri plants of FCIL and Barauni plant of HFCL by setting up new Ammonia Urea plants of 12.7 Lakh metric tonne per annum capacity. These projects upon implementation/ operationalization will the gap between demand and supply of urea in the country: Subsequent to commissioning/ start of the above plants, the indigenous urea production will be enhanced by 63.5 Lakh Metric Tonne year leading to corresponding reduction in import of urea: bridge per

The Cabinet in its meeting held on 21.05.2015 has aslo decided to install a new urea plant of 8.646 Lakh Metric Tonne Per Annum (LMTPA) in the existing premises of Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizers Corporation Limited (BVFCL) , which will subsequently replace the existing urea plants Namrup-II (capacity 2.20 LMTPA) and Namrup-III (capacity 2.70 LMTPA)

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