India's urea imports increased by 10% to 68.71 lakh tons in the first nine months of the current financial year. The country had imported 62.57 lakh tons of the fertilizer in the same period (April-December) of 2014-15.
The government imports urea through three agencies -- STC, MMTC and IPL. Besides, India also has an offtake agreement with Oman- based fertilizer firm OMIFCO, which is a joint venture between domestic cooperatives such as IFFCO, Kribhco and Oman Oil Company SAOC.
Urea is a controlled fertilizer and is sold at a fixed selling price of Rs 5,360 per ton. The difference between cost of production and selling price is paid as subsidy to manufacturers.The country's annual urea demand is 30 million tons, while the production is stagnant at 22 million tons.