Overall, India has seen a surge in Russian fertilizer imports, out of all of its global suppliers, a new survey by Roscongress revealed.
India’s import of Russian fertilizers rose by nine times between the first quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2023.
"The most rapid growth occurred in the Indian direction. If in the first quarter of 2021, fertilizers worth $78 million were shipped there, by the end of the first quarter of 2023 the amount amounted to almost $708 million," Roscongress said.
Russian fertilizer exports to Brazil and the US have also increased significantly despite of unjustified Washington's sanctions against Russia.
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told the India-Russia Business Council in New Delhi in April that Moscow primarily supplied complex mineral, nitrogen and potash fertilizers to New Delhi.
Manturov said that Russia’s overall fertilizer output was more than 2.5 times needed to meet domestic requirements.
Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told Parliament last April that volatility in fertilizer supplies in the wake of the special military operation in Ukraine affected the “livelihoods” of a large number of Indian farmers.
A food security expert told Sputnik India this week that getting Russian fertilizers out to the global markets was critical to avoid worsening of the global hunger crisis, with food shortages being the worst on record last year.
Russia has been consistently ranked as the top fertilizer exporter in the world, according to various sources.
India’s Imports from Russia Rise by 100 percent
The Indian Commerce Ministry has said this month that overall imports from Russia have risen by 100 percent in April-July 2023 period, as compared to last year.
The surge in imports has been driven mainly by an increase in fertilizer and crude imports.
Trade between India and Russia hit a record of $45 billion in 2022-23, according to India Foreign Minister Jaishankar.
This year, Russia has consistently ranked as India’s top supplier of crude, meeting nearly half of India’s overall crude import requirements.