Amid reports that Russia is now the second largest supplier of crude oil to India, it has been revealed that Russia is also the largest supplier of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser to India.
India ordered 3.5 lakh tonnes of DAP from Russia, which started arriving by April and will continue to come till July end considering the Kharif sowing season is still in vogue. DAP like urea is the lifeline of India’s farmers who undertake sowing in big numbers by early monsoon.
The main reason why India has sanctioned such a huge consignment of the fertilizer from Russia is the cost advantage. Since Russia’s war with Ukraine has invited western sanctions, the country has been compelled to find newer markets for its produce. The landing price of Russian DAP in India is said to be $920-925 per tonne (freight additional). This price is much below the prices charged by countries like Jordan, Morocco, China and Saudi Arabia.
Russian fertilizer firm PhosAgro has offered the price ($920) which is putting pressure on Morocco’s OCP Group, China’s YUC and Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden and SABIC groups to cut their rates.
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As per industry sources, India is likely to import about 10 lakh tonnes of DAP for the period April-July. The Russian company’s share in this import will be around 3.5 lakh tonne while the Saudi Arabian firms will supply about 2.8 lakh tonne DAP. Chinese firm YUC’s share will be 1.27 lakh tonne and Morocco’s OCP will ship 1.03 lakh tonne.
India is a huge market for international DAP sale. In 2021-22, India brought 58.60 lakh tonne of DAP valued at $4,007.50 million. Most of the supplies then came from China (20.43 lakh tonne), Saudi Arabia (19.33 lakh tonne), Morocco (12.13 lakh tonne) and Jordan (2.46 lakh tonne).