3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 11, 2026 02:45 AM IST
In a big relief to India, the state-owned National Fertilizers Ltd’s (NFL) latest tender for import of 1.7 million tonnes (mt) of urea has received landed (cost plus freight) price quotes of $444.9-449.3 per tonne.
This is substantially lower than the winning landed price bids of $935-959 per tonne for an earlier tender by Indian Potash Ltd (IPL) for import of 2.5 mt.
The NFL tender, which was issued on May 27 and opened on June 8, received bids for a total quantity of 6.25 mt. That included 3.17 mt for supplying to the East Coast and 3.08 mt to Western Indian ports. The lowest bids were at $444.9 per tonne by Adita Birla Global Trading for East Coast and at $449.3 per tonne by Ameropa Asia for West Coast of India delivery.
The previous IPL tender for import of 2.5 mt, issued on April 4 and opened on April 15, received offers of over 5.9 mt. But the suppliers agreed for West Coast deliveries at $935 per tonne and for the Eastern coast at $959 per tonne.
Industry sources attributed the lower price quotes in the latest import tender mainly to China issuing export quotas for urea, after having banned shipments of the nitrogenous fertiliser in March. This followed the supply shock from the US-Israel versus Iran war and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which
India imported a record 11.17 mt of urea in 2025-26 (April-March), valued at $ 5.16 billion, up from 6.91 mt ($ 2.38 billion) in 2024-25. Out of the total 11.17 mt imports, China alone accounted for 2.23 mt, followed by Oman (1.91 mt), Russia (1.64 mt), Qatar (0.95 mt), Indonesia and Saudi Arabia (0.65 mt each), United Arab Emirates and Finland (0.46 mt each) and Nigeria (0.45 mt).
“China partially lifting export restrictions has not only eased soaring global prices, but also come at the right time with kharif (monsoon) crop plantings underway,” a source pointed out.
Story continues below this ad
The NFL tender had specified that the shipments for the contracted quantitiesfrom the loading ports not be later than July 20. That would allow for material to land by August and for application by farmers in the latter part of the kharif season.
The Indian Express had, on Wednesday, reported that the Centre fertiliser subsidy bill for the current fiscal could touch Rs 340,000 crore in the current fiscal, on the back of elevated global prices. This would be almost twice the budgeted figure of Rs 170,799 crore and surpassing the record Rs 251,339.36 crore of 2022-23 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
