NEW DELHI: Govt has announced to increase gas supply to urea plants to approximately 90% of their average consumption from Monday, a move that will push productivity to ensure enough availability of the most-used soil nutrient during the upcoming Kharif, and subsequent, Rabi crop season.Currently, the supply of LNG to urea plants is around 70-75% of their last six-month’s average consumption. Govt on Saturday said supply will be increased “considering the available inventory and scheduled LNG cargo arrivals”. It added that gas supply to other industrial and commercial sectors, including supplies through city gas distribution (CGD) networks, will be enhanced by a further 10%, effective Monday.“All industrial consumers, including fertiliser plants, have been advised to provide their additional requirement on spot basis so that the same may be arranged by the gas marketing companies,” an official statement said.Earlier this week, the fertiliser ministry had said monthly domestic urea production dropped to 18 lakh tonnes in March from earlier average of 24 lakh tonnes. It had said manufacturing is set to increase with more availability of LNG, including procurement through “spot buying” every fortnight.Meanwhile, on Saturday, the Centre also extended the State Trading Enterprise (STE) status of Indian Potash Limited (IPL) for importing urea on govt accounts until March 31, 2027. This move is aimed at ensuring uninterrupted supply of urea to meet domestic demand amid volatile international markets.
