India will reduce some of its purchases of Russian fertilizers
In the first quarter of 2024, India’s nitrogen fertilizer purchases decreased by 35% year-on-year. According to the Vedomosti newspaper, according to data from the Center for Price Indices (CCI), the main buyers of Russian fertilizers have decided to reduce their purchases of some of them.
India’s fertilizer imports fell to 1.1 million tonnes due to lower prices for natural gas and imported LNG, while 90% of the region’s urea is produced from LNG. Compared to imported urea, the manufacturing cost per ton of fertilizer is reduced by $84 at CFR prices. Taking into account domestic prices, the cost of producing a ton of fertilizer fell by 6% to $246.
India is the world’s largest urea market, but the government is working to reduce the country’s dependence on imports. In 2023, Russia ranked third in urea imports with a share of 16% (1.4 million tons), behind Oman and China. At the same time, export prices have fluctuated between $275 and $325 per tonne since the beginning of 2024.
