New Delhi, March 19 Fertilizer companies have purchased additional natural gas from the spot market to increase urea production at their plants, which are operating well below capacity due to a fuel shortage amid the West Asia crisis, a senior government official said on Thursday.
After procuring additional natural gas, urea plants are expected to operate at 78-80 per cent capacity compared to the current 62 per cent.
India produced 306.67 lakh tonnes of urea in 2024-25 and imported 56.47 lakh tonnes of the nutrient to meet domestic demand. The country has imported 98 lakh tonnes of urea in the first eleven months of this fiscal year.
Fertilizer plants in the country require about 52 million metric standard cubic meters per day (MMSCMD) of natural gas to operate at full capacity, but were receiving only around 32 MMSCMD, meeting barely 62 per cent of their requirement, resulting in a significant shortfall in urea output, the official told