Amidst West Asia crisis, India purchased natural gas at $19/unit from spot markets for fertiliser units

Spot costs of liquified natural gas (LNG), which was supplied to the fertiliser business, have been secured at about $19 per metric million British Thermal Unit (MMBTU), a senior authorities official advised reporters Monday (March 31, 2026).

“Before the war, the spot prices hovered around $11/MMBtu,” they acknowledged, including, “Since the war, we have purchased LNG at about $19 for our fertiliser units.”

According to the federal government’s observations, the worldwide fertiliser markets have had a “sharp increase” in costs of inputs corresponding to LNG, ammonia and sulphur, accompanied with a spike in freight and logistics prices, amidst the continued battle in West Asia.

At current roughly, India could be tapping into the spot market for 30% of the fertiliser business’s necessities.

The prevailing scenario, and provide management measures, have additionally had an impression of the home manufacturing of Urea.

For context, India receives about 20-30% of their urea and 30% of their diammonium phosphate (DAP), alongside almost half of their consumption of natural gas necessities, from the Gulf area. Essential to notice, amidst the escalating battle, Tehran additionally attacked amenities of QatarEnergy, which is the most important natural gas importer on the planet and amongst India’s main suppliers.

Spurring home manufacturing

According to govt estimates, the whole requirement for the upcoming Kharif sowing season is about 390 lakh tonnes. The whole inventory stands at round 180 lakh tonnes. Now, with natural gas provide to urea vegetation augmented to 75-80% of necessities by means of different preparations, the urea manufacturing has elevated by 12,000-15,000 tonnes per day.

“[Thus], reducing the monthly production loss from 9-10 LMT to around 6-7 LMT,” the federal government knowledgeable.

Essential to notice, based on govt estimates, India produced 18 lakh tonnes of urea, 9-10 lakh tonnes of phosphorus and potassium fertilisers in March this 12 months.

In addition to this, in search of to stabilise provides of key uncooked supplies as sulphur and LNG, India is tapping into Russia, Morocco, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Jordan, Canada, Algeria, Egypt, Finland and Togo.