The government determines the quantity of fertilizers to be imported based on their domestic availability. However, the process of fixing the quantity to be imported and actually receiving the imports takes about 60-70 days, since only three companies are allowed to import urea into the country. Thus, shortages are often caused in the urea market.
Since farmers have to ensure that urea is applied to their crops on time, it leads to the growth of black markets selling urea, often at prices above the maximum retail prices.
