While the United States’ war against Iran has created a global energy crisis, India’s neighbouring competitor China has emerged as an unexpected supporter for the country by supplying fertilisers.
India’s fertiliser imports from China saw a steep increase during the previous financial year. In FY26, India imported over 5 million tonnes of fertilisers from China, which was an increase of 173.32 percent compared to the previous financial year.
India’s fertiliser imports from China stood at around 3 million tonnes in FY25. China climbed to the second position among fertiliser suppliers to India after this sharp surge.
Russia remains the top fertiliser supplier to India. It supplied around 6.7 million tonnes of fertilisers to the country. This was an increase of over 35 percent compared to the previous year. Russia had supplied around 4.9 million tonnes of fertilisers to India in FY25.
Fertiliser imports from Saudi Arabia also increased by 22 percent to 2.8 million tonnes.
The increase in imports has come as India braces for a possible shortage of fertilisers during the upcoming monsoon season. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged farmers to halve the use of fertilisers and shift to natural alternatives in order to conserve foreign exchange reserves amid the West Asia crisis.
However, the government has maintained that there are enough fertiliser stocks in the country to meet the demand.
India used to import a significant amount of urea and other fertilisers from the Gulf region, which is currently facing war-related threats.
Moreover, natural gas is an essential input for fertiliser production. Natural gas supplies from West Asian countries have been severely affected after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz and attacked energy infrastructure in the region.
India may have to further increase imports from countries such as China to avoid any fertiliser shortage.
