The sown acreage for India's 2025-26 rabi season is higher for most key crops, compared with long-term averages, which is set to keep domestic fertilizer demand supported in the first quarter.
Sown wheat acreage was 3.34mn hectares (ha) as of 9 January, up by almost 60,000ha on the year and up strongly from the long-term average of 3.12mn ha, according to data from the Department of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare. India's winter rabi season runs from October to March.
Sown rabi rice acreage was 220,000ha, up by 20,000ha on the year but down significantly from the long-term average of 430,000ha. But rice is primarily a summer kharif crop and India's kharif rice acreage rose by 70,000ha on the year to 4.42mn ha for the 2025-26 season.
Lastly, the sown acreage of total pulses rose by 40,000 ha on the year to 1.36mn ha in the 2025-26 season.
Rabi crops are sown from mid-November onwards after the main monsoon season ends in September. November-January is the peak for urea offtake in India, while DAP purchases typically peak a month or so earlier in the fourth quarter.
