India reduced its fertilizer demand estimate for the kharif season after the weather office downgraded its monsoon forecast, adding to pressure on an agriculture sector that is coming to grips with disruptions from the West Asia war.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) revised its 2026 south-west monsoon forecast to 90% of the long-period average (LPA), down from 92%, prompting the department of agriculture and farmers welfare to pare the overall fertilizer requirements to 38.39 million tonnes from an earlier 39.05 million tonnes. Urea demand has been trimmed by roughly 400,000 tonnes to 19 million tonnes, while diammonium phosphate (DAP) demand was cut to 5.62 million tonnes from 5.91 million tonnes.
“The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), in consultation with states, has reassessed the fertilizer requirement for the kharif season, lowering demand estimates for key nutrients due to evolving agricultural conditions,” said Aparna S. Sharma, additional secretary, department of fertilizers, while addressing the mediapersons during the interministerial briefing on recent developments in West Asia.
Despite the demand reduction, the government has said there is ample supply. Stocks currently stand at 19.98 million tonnes, more than 52% of the revised seasonal requirement, significantly ahead of the typical 33% benchmark at this time in the season. A global tender for an additional 1.7 million tonnes of urea has also been floated, while shipments of 2.5 million tonnes of urea, 1.5 mt of DAP and 1 mt of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) fertilizers are expected at Indian ports in June and July.
Prices of food commodities stable
Meanwhile, the department of consumer affairs informed that prices of food commodities are stable. Price trends across key food categories such as cereals, milk, pulses, and sugar remain stable. Among the vegetables, potato and onion prices are range-bound, helping maintain overall stability in the food basket. No unusual price volatility in the food commodities.
“The government has set a price stabilisation buffer target of 200,000 mt for onions in 2026-27. Procurement commenced on 15 May and is expected to support mandi prices and help moderate price volatility. To further encourage timely procurement amid rising arrivals, the procurement price was increased with effect from 26 May,” said Anupam Mishra, additional secretary, department of consumer affairs.
Joint secretary Sujata Sharma, spokesperson for the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, said demand for petrol and diesel had not decreased in May, in light of the government’s call for austerity measures.
“There have been efforts to manage domestic LPG demand in various ways—booking time gap, etc. So, in that domain, there has been a reduction in demand. But for MS (motor spirit or petrol) and HSD (diesel), there has been no reduction in consumption,” said Sharma to a direct query on the reduction of fuel demand due to austerity measures.
During May, the sale of petrol and diesel has increased by more than 30% in many districts, the Union petroleum ministry said in a statement on Monday. However, the ministry added that adequate stocks of petrol and diesel were available at all retail outlets. Even as aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices were kept unchanged in the June revision, Sharma said state-run oil marketing companies were bearing a loss of ₹30 per litre on jet fuel.
Over 262,000 credit applications received under ECLGS 5.0
Manoj Muttathil Ayyappan, joint secretary in the department of financial services, finance ministry, said that more than 262,800 credit applications had been sourced under the Centre’s Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0 scheme as on 29 May. The scheme received the Cabinet’s approval on 5 May. Ayyappan said these applications covered credit of ₹1.71 trillion. “Of course, most of this has come in the last 2-3 days. Of this, ₹35,194 crore has been sanctioned, and ₹15,720 crore worth of guarantees have also been issued,” he said. There have been no reports of loan default stress increasing, especially in the country’s MSME sector, in the quarter ending March, said Ayyappan.