India’s urea stocks climb by 17pc in March

Indian urea inventories rose to around 8.8mn t by the end of last month, up by 17pc from 7.5mn t at the end of February, as output and imports rose to offset stable sales.

Production hit 2.49mn t last month, up from 2.38mn t a year earlier, provisional official data show. It also marks a rise from 2.33mn t in February, which typically sees lower levels during the turnaround season.

Sales in March were largely stable from a year earlier at 1.57mn t.

The rise in production combined with imports of 375,000t to push urea stocks up to around 8.8mn t, having started March at 7.5mn t (see chart).

And inventories are set to receive further support in the coming months with importer and supplier Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers' (RCF) conclusion of its 27 March tender, buying 724,000t of urea for shipment from load ports up to 20 May.

Indian urea production surges in 2023-24

The higher output lifted total fertilizer production to 31.3mn t between April 2023 and March 2024, up by 9.8pc from 28.5mn t in the 2022-23 fertilizer year.

The rise in domestic production can be largely attributed to supplier Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan (Hurl), which tripled urea output in 2023-24 to 3.55mn t, as it ramped up production at its three sites. Hurl produced 1.21mn t of urea in the 2022-23 fertilizer year, according to its last annual report. Fellow producer Matix has also increased output at its 1.3mn t/yr Panagarh plant since early 2022.

Cumulative urea sales across the country were 35.8mn t in 2023-24, up slightly from 35.7mn t. Inventories climbed by a net 2.6mn t in 2023-24, marking the highest in recent years and dwarfing an increase of 405,000t in 2022-23, largely driven by the rise in domestic output.

By Harry Minihan

India's monthly net change in urea stocks (mn t)