{"id":393898,"date":"2026-04-23T15:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/393898\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:11:14","slug":"india-to-import-urea-at-double-prices-amid-middle-east-disruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/393898\/","title":{"rendered":"India to import urea at double prices amid Middle East disruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Delhi’s reported record purchases, ahead of its monsoon sowing season, are expected to push up prices and strain supplies globally<\/p>\n

India has agreed to import urea at double the prices it paid earlier this year, amid the supply disruption caused by the Middle East conflict, Reuters has reported.<\/p>\n

New Delhi is set to import a record 2.5 million metric tons of the nitrogen-based fertilizer in a single tender, the news outlet reported on Wednesday, citing government sources.<\/p>\n

Indian Potash Ltd. has agreed to buy<\/a> 1.5 million tons of urea at $935 per ton for delivery on the west coast, and an additional 1 million tons at $959 per ton for delivery on the east coast, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Before the US and Israel launched the war on Iran in late February, India’s Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers received bids at $508 per ton for west coast delivery and $512 per ton for east coast delivery, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n

The latest imports would account for nearly a quarter of its annual imports of about 10 million tons in 2025.<\/p>\n

The purchase is India’s first since the conflict began and comes ahead of sowing for monsoon crops such as rice, corn, and soybeans.<\/p>\n

India is the world’s biggest urea importer, and its urea production depends heavily on natural gas, mainly imported from the Middle East. The development also comes amid a shortage of liquefied natural gas, a key feedstock for urea production.<\/p>\n

Supply disruptions caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have resulted in many domestic fertilizer facilities being forced to halt production.<\/p>\n

Urea prices have risen globally since the Middle East war began on February 28, as about 45% of the supplies move through the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n

Higher import costs are likely to push up India’s fertilizer subsidy bill, as the federal government compensates fertilizer companies for selling crop nutrients to farmers at lower prices.<\/p>\n

Indian companies import<\/a> fertilizers individually but negotiate collectively with suppliers.<\/p>\n

As New Delhi secures supplies, other nations are also expected to scramble for fertilizers, pushing up prices further and straining supplies globally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Delhi’s reported record purchases, ahead of its monsoon sowing season, are expected to push up prices and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[203479,203480,138,219,203478,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-393898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-ahead-of-its-monsoon-sowing-season","tag-are-expected-to-push-up-prices-and-strain-supplies-globally-read-full-article-at-rt-com","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-indias-reported-record-purchases","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}