Russia for the first time became the biggest fertiliser supplier to India in the first half of the 2022-23 by offering discounts over prevailing global prices, cornering more than a fifth of the market share, government and industry sources said.

India’s fertiliser imports from Russia surged 371 per cent to a record 2.15 million tonnes in the first six months of the year started on April 1, a senior government official who was closely monitoring the imports, told Reuters.

He declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

In value terms, India’s imports during the period spiked 765 per cent to $1.6 billion, he said. In the last entire fiscal year, India imported 1.26 million tonnes from Russia.

“India was struggling to secure fertilisers at reasonable prices after conflict escalated between Russia and Ukraine. Russian supplies were timely and at reasonable prices. It helped us to avoid possible scarcity,” the official said.

Fertiliser prices jumped in the world market from March onwards after Western countries imposed sanctions on the fertiliser shipments from Russia and Belarus, key exporters, in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Combined, Russia and Belarus accounted for more than 40 per cent of global exports of potash last year.

Russia accounted for about 22 per cent of global exports of ammonia, 14 per cent of the world’s urea exports and about 14 per cent of monoammonium phosphate (MAP) — all key kinds of fertilisers.