Earlier this month, the country wrapped up a urea import tender, landing 410,000 tons versus the 1.7 million tons sought, reflecting its status among the largest urea buyers globally. According to traders familiar with the deal, just the lowest-priced bidders for both coasts committed to ship their volumes; the rest declined to align with those below-market prices.
The mismatch points to ongoing pressure on farm input costs tied to Middle East hostilities. Indian Potash Ltd., which also imports on behalf of the government, ran the process. A fertilizer ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email sent outside office hours.
For west coast deliveries, offers ranged from $356.25 to $416.50 a ton, according to the people. For the east coast, the range was $352.10 to $465 a ton.
Across both regions, suppliers offered more than twice the volume the agency aimed to buy, even though only the lowest-priced bidders agreed to supply what they had offered.
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Other importers track India's urea buying to gauge the market's benchmark price. In April, the country paid up to $959 a ton after the Iran war disrupted key supplies from the Middle East and pushed prices up. Subsequently, with bottlenecks loosening and worldwide appetite waning, prices fell, and August purchases cleared at $390.25 to $393.65 a ton.
India's buying sets a reference price for others, so a tender that falls far short despite ample offers highlights a gap between the country's bid levels and current market pricing. With winter sowing underway for wheat, rapeseed and chickpeas, and diesel costs higher, expensive urea could also add to the government's fertilizer subsidy bill. For investors tracking agriculture and input costs, this tender shows where pricing tension still sits in the global urea market.
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