Fertilisers Consumption / Production: Tonnage terms
In the fertilizer industry, "tonnage terms" refer to the physical weight of the product, while "nutrient terms" specify the actual weight of the active nutrients within that product. The two are necessary for understanding product concentration and for precise application based on crop needs
Tonnage terms are used in the sale, shipping, and reporting of fertilizer and relate to the total mass of the product
Nutrient terms are used to specify the concentration of the primary nutrients—nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)—that are critical for plant growth
Nutrient tonnes: This term, often used in large-scale agricultural reporting, refers to the weight of the actual nutrients (N, P2O5, K2O contained within a volume of fertilizer product
For 2023-24, Urea consumption (NH2CONH2 with 46% N) was 35,780.4 thousand metric tons (TMT) or 35.8 million tons, Urea production was 31,408.5 TMT, or 31.4 million tons and Urea imports were 7042.0 TMT or ~7 million tons
For those familiar with Chemistry, N is 14 / C is 12 / O is 16 / H is 1, so NH2CONH2 has 28 N / 4 H / 12 C / 16 O) or 28 N in 60 total, and that is how N content of 46% is arrived at, and similar for all fertilisers
As we saw in the section on Fertiliser Consumption / Production in Nutrient terms, total N consumption was 20.46 million tons (nutrient tons). We are sure readers would have clearly differentiated between consumption mentioned in tonnage terms and that in nutrient terms
For the same year, consumption of Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP,(NH4)2HPO4), a popular fertilizer that provides both nitrogen (18% N, commercial specification and not theoretical ) and phosphorus (46% P2O5, commercial specification and not theoretical), was 10,811.9 TMT or 10.8 million tons, production was 4,292.8 TMT, or ~4.3 million tons and imports were 5,567.0 TMT or ~5.6 million tons
Again, for those familiar with Chemistry, N is 14 / H is 1 / P is 31 and O is 16. We will leave it to the readers to calculate the theoretical N and P2O5 content, but highlight that here, the commercial specifications for N and P2O5 are different from the theoretical numbers
| Year | Urea Consumption Thousand MT | Urea Production Thousand MT | Urea Imports Thousand MT | DAP Consumption Thousand MT | DAP Production Thousand MT | DAP Imports Thousand MT | MOP Production Thousand MT | MOP Imports Thousand MT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | 35780.4 | 31408.5 | 7042.0 | 10811.9 | 4292.8 | 5567.0 | 1644.8 | 2869.0 |
| 2022-23 | 35725.1 | 28495.3 | 7582.0 | 10417.6 | 4346.7 | 6583.0 | 1631.5 | 1866.0 |
| 2021-22 | 34180.1 | 25075.7 | 9136.0 | 9272.0 | 4221.9 | 5462.0 | 2456.5 | 2460.0 |
| 2020-21 | 35042.5 | 24603.1 | 9826.0 | 11911.5 | 3773.8 | 4882.0 | 3424.9 | 4227.0 |
| 2019-20 | 33695.4 | 24455.2 | 9123.0 | 10099.8 | 4549.5 | 4870.0 | 2787.5 | 3670.0 |
| 2018-19 | 31418.1 | 23899.2 | 7481.0 | 9211.1 | 3898.6 | 6602.0 | 2956.6 | 4214.0 |
| 2017-18 | 29894.4 | 24026.0 | 5975.0 | 9294.1 | 4654.0 | 4217.0 | 3158.2 | 4736.0 |
| 2016-17 | 29613.6 | 24200.8 | 5481.0 | 8963.5 | 4333.4 | 4385.0 | 2863.2 | 3736.0 |
| 2015-16 | 30634.8 | 24461.3 | 8474.0 | 9107.2 | 3821.8 | 6008.0 | 2466.9 | 3243.0 |
| 2014-15 | 30610.0 | 22592.9 | 8749.0 | 7625.6 | 3445.4 | 3853.0 | 2853.4 | 4197.0 |
| 2013-14 | 30600.5 | 22718.7 | 7088.0 | 7357.4 | 3628.2 | 3261.1 | 2280.4 | 3180.0 |
| 2012-13 | 30002.2 | 22586.6 | 8044.0 | 9154.1 | 3646.8 | 5702.3 | 2211.0 | 2496.1 |
| 2011-12 | 29565.3 | 21992.3 | 7834.0 | 10191.2 | 3951.3 | 6905.2 | 3028.9 | 3984.6 |
| 2010-11 | 28112.5 | 21872.5 | 6610.0 | 10869.9 | 3545.6 | 7411.0 | 3931.6 | 6357.0 |
Urea production was hovering at around ~ 24.0-24.5 million tonnes per year between 2015-16 and 2020-21, but increased to 31.4 million tonnes during 2023-24. This has led to reduction in Urea imports, which had peaked at ~ 9.8 million tonnes duirng 2020-21
View the trends graphically