Additional fertilizer supplies to India can both increase its food security and bring tangible financial benefits to Russia.
Russia can significantly increase fertilizer supplies to India, and producers are ready for this.
This was stated by First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov during a forum that took place before the 25th meeting of the Intergovernmental Russian-Indian Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation.
According to him, today bilateral relations between Russia and India continue to develop and strengthen, despite external pressure.
The volume of trade is already record-breaking, if we focus on the results of last year, but it can be even higher.
«There are all the prerequisites to surpass this achievement this year.
At the same time, in addition to the quantitative growth of mutual trade, it is important for us to diversify its structure. Not just to balance commodity flows, but also to increase the share of non-raw materials, high-tech products.
The conditions for this are formed by two national programs that are similar in spirit. I am referring to the course towards technological sovereignty taken by the Russian government and the Make in India program.
Both of these initiatives are aimed at accelerating the pace of production, developing innovations and removing infrastructure restrictions,” Manturov noted.
It is emphasized that Russia and India have already come to the point of forming a single chain of agro-industrial production.
Today, Russia is the world leader in the production of mineral fertilizers and occupies a significant share of 18% on the world market. It annually exports up to 37 million tons of fertilizers.
At the same time, India is the second largest importer of fertilizers in the world in terms of purchases, its annual demand is at the level of 22 million tons.
About a quarter of this total volume comes from Russia, but this share can also be increased. At the same time, the Russian Federation offers environmentally friendly mineral fertilizers, which is a major advantage.
As for India, it has experienced a real agricultural revolution in recent years, experts note: a sharp increase in the volume of fertilizers applied has led to a noticeable increase in harvests, and this is fundamentally important for a country with the world’s largest population.
Overall, over the past 6 years, Russian agricultural producers have increased the volume of fertilizer supplies to India by 6 times. This process has especially accelerated after 2022.
At the same time, further growth in volumes is hindered by the 5% import duty currently in place in India. Experts emphasize that if it were canceled, both sides could benefit.
