National Fertilizers (NFL) got the lowest offers for urea supply at $426.80 per tonne for delivery on east coast ports and $424.80 for delivery on west coast ports in its latest tender. The company plans to import 1.5 million tonnes (mt), on behalf of the government.
NFL floated the global bid on December 17 to import 1.5 mt of urea and the last date of submission of bids was January 2. The financial bids were opened on January 5.
According to the results, Koch Fertilizer LLC (Bid Id -952818) was the lowest bidder, quoting $424.80 per tonne for delivery at Pipavav, Deendayal (Ex-Kandla) and Mundra ports in Gujarat. It quoted $426.80 per tonne for delivery at Kakinada and Vizag ports in Andhra Pradesh.
Other bidders
Surprisingly, the highest bid was by Suvarnabhoomi Enterprises at $523 per tonne for delivery at Krishnapatnam, Gangavaram, Vizag and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and at $510 per tonne for delivery at Mundra, Deendayal, Adani Hazira, Dahej (all in Gujarat) and Jaigarh (Maharashtra) ports.
The other participants in the NFL’s urea import bid include Aditya Birla Global Trading, Agri Commodities & Finance FZ, Agrifields DMCC, Ameropa Asia, Aramco Trading Fujairah FZE, Chasemax International DMCC, Continental Traders, Dreymoor Fertilizers Overseas, Fertiglobe Fertilizer Trading Company (Dubai), Fertistream DMCC, Hexagon Fertilizers Asia, Indagro SA, India Coke And Power, Indorama Eleme Fertilizer & Chemicals FZE, Keytrade AG, Midgulf International, Macrosource LLC, Samsung C&T Corporation and Sun International FZE.
The previous bid on the government account was conducted by Indian Potash (IPL). In that tender, the imported urea was offered at $418.40/tonne, trade sources said. Though IPL had floated bids for 2 mt, the government finalised the deals for 1.5 mt only, based on the response.
Imports surge
Urea has been on the news for quite sometime due to farmers’ complaints about shortages and black marketting. Since the government has been supplying urea to farmers at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 267 for a 45-kg bag (equals about Rs 5,933/tonne) against current lowest rate of imported urea at Rs 38,232/tonne.
According to the Fertiliser Association of India (FAI), urea imports surged 120 per cent to 7.17 mt during April–November of 2025-26 fiscal, mainly due to meet increased demand and decline in production. It has said that urea sales reached 25.40 mt, which is 2.3 per cent up from the year-ago period whereas domestic production dropped 3.7 per cent to 19.75 mt.
“First, the structural shift toward import-driven supply management for nitrogen and phosphate nutrients and secondly, the strong performance of indigenous phosphatic fertilisers like SSP, have helped sales grow 15 per cent,” said Suresh Kumar Chaudhari, Director-General, FAI, while pointing out the two major points of the data.
“This signals a balanced approach—we are securing critical nutrients through planned imports while strengthening domestic phosphatic production. Going forward, FAI will focus on data-driven planning and diversification in nutrient use to support sustainable agriculture,” he said.
Published on January 6, 2026
