CCEA revises single super phosphate (SSP) fertiliser policy

New Delhi, Apr 11 (UNI) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved a revised policy for single super phospate (SSP) fertiliser for the current agricultural year aimed at bringing in uniformity and rationalising pricing of all P&K fertilisers.

"A uniform all-India MRP of SSP, based on the nutrient cost of 'P' and 'S' will be fixed by the Centre at Rs 3,400 per MT for powdered SSP to bring uniformity in pricing of all P&K fertilisers and allow sharing the cost of sulphur by the farmer as a valuable secondary nutrient," Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters here after a Cabinet meeting.

Cost of 'P' nutrient as derived from the MRP of DAP and Rs 73 per 'S' out of the cost of 'sulphur' at present cost of 553 U S dollars per MT will be adopted for fixing its MRP.

Balance will be treated as part of the concession. Besides rationalising pricing of SSP, it will allow sharing of cost of 'S' between the farmer and the Government.

The Department Of Fertiliser has been authorised to revise the MRP of SSP from time to time in keeping with international prices of sulphur as well as nutrient price of 'P' in DAP. This will allow periodic adjustment in price of SSP vis-a-vis concession granted to SSP.

To enable the farmer to obtain fortified SSP required for balanced fertilisation and ensure agricultural productivity, the MRP of granulated SSP will be announced at Rs 400 per MT higher than the MRP of powdered SSP and MRP of boronated SSP at 10 per cent higher than that applicable to powdered and granulated SSP respectively.

Monthly concession will be granted to SSP based on the CAB formula with escalation/de-escalation in the prices of rock phosphate and sulphur to encourage SSP production by compensating the cost of raw materials which will result in increased use of 'P' through SSP and also increased availability of 'S' and 'Ca'.

This monthly concession will be on the basis of average of the low and the high C&F prices for the preceding month published in the Fertilizer Market Bulletin or actual weighted average of imported sulphur and rock phosphate that arrived during the period, except for April, whichever is lower for SSP manufactured with imported rock. For April, the same month price would be reckoned with. Average price of indigenous rock for the same period would be reckoned with for concession to SSP manufactured with indigenous rock.

Base concession to SSP will be adopted and announced at Rs 5,630 per MT for SSP with imported rock and at Rs 3,658 per MT with SSP with indigenous rock for 2008-09. This concession will be applicable to powdered, boronated, granulated or any other fortified SSP. This will enable manufacturers to claim their concessions.

All SSP will be marketed by large producers, manufacturing more than one lakh MT of SSP per annum or through NPK/urea manufacturers who are already covered under the subsidy/concession scheme and who are having a wide marketing network in the country. This will ensure quality control on the SSP being made available to the farmer.

The marketer of SSP will claim concession/subsidy for such sales and full concession payable would be released on the basis of certification of arrival/receipt in the district by their statutory auditors as acknowledged by the states. This will bring uniformity in the payment procedure for all P&K fertilisers under the concession scheme.

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