INDIA FACES A NEW FERTILISER CHALLENGE AS GLOBAL SULPHUR PRICES SURGE

India’s fertiliser sector is facing a new supply-chain challenge as global sulphur prices rise sharply amid disruptions affecting energy infrastructure in Russia and West Asia. Sulphur is an important input in fertiliser production, particularly phosphatic fertilisers, and the commodity has become increasingly valuable as supply tightens. Historically treated largely as a byproduct of oil refining and natural-gas processing, sulphur is now facing additional demand from emerging industries including electric-vehicle battery manufacturing. India has managed to secure supplies of urea and LNG, but rising sulphur prices introduce another pressure point for agricultural input costs. For Indian farmers and the fertiliser industry, sustained price increases could eventually affect production costs and subsidy requirements. The development also demonstrates how geopolitical conflicts can affect commodities far removed from the original source of disruption. For investors and businesses, sulphur is becoming an example of the wider resource-security issue created by the energy transition and global industrial restructuring.