India's urea inventories stood at around 4.9mn t in mid-January, down from 5.3mn t at the end of December, with provisional data indicating strong sales this month.
Urea sales are set to be around 4.4mn t in January, the provisional data indicate, which would be lower than the 4.56mn t sold in the month last year but still remain considerable compared with previous years. Production is set to be steady at over 2.6mn t this month.
There was a stock drawdown of 2.24mn t in December after record local urea sales for any month at 5.76mn t. The falling stocks are maintaining pressure on imports, with market participants anticipating another buy-tender next month to top-up inventories ahead of the kharif summer season, which picks up in earnest in May-June.

