Indian farmers fear fertilizer shortages due to Iran conflict

Fertilizers are either unavailable or being sold at sharply higher prices amid disruptions linked to tensions in the Middle East, increasing production costs while crop returns remain unchanged as cultivators face financial strain, farmers in parts of India said on Saturday (March 28).

India, where farming is a mainstay, depends heavily on imports of fertilizers such as urea, diammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash, as well as liquefied natural gas, a key feedstock for urea production.

The Middle East accounts for roughly half of India's DAP and urea imports, with Saudi Arabia the largest DAP supplier and Oman the biggest urea supplier.

Fertilizer demand rises in June and July, when farmers begin planting crops such as rice, corn, cotton, and oilseeds.

Ahead of the summer season, many urea and DAP shipments arrive in India during the March-May quarter.

India is particularly concerned about urea, its most widely used fertilizer, as the conflict has reduced gas supplies used to produce nitrogen-based fertilizers.

Qatar is India's largest supplier of imported LNG, but shipments from the country have been disrupted after Iran responded to joint U.S.-Israeli attacks by threatening to fire on vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz

-Reuters