New Delhi, July 4: Sulphuric acid could well be the next addition to the list of commodities whose exports have been banned by the government as a measure of keeping their prices in check. Citing the sharp rise in international prices of complex fertilisers, the fertiliser ministry has asked the government to ban exports of sulphuric acid for the time being. “Sulphuric acid accounts for one-fourth the total cost of production of phosphatic fertilisers and it doesn’t make sense for it to be exported at high prices when the industry is already facing such low returns,” U S Awasthi, IFFCO managing director, told The Indian Express.

Prices of various fertilisers have doubled over the past one year and more than quadrupled over the past four years. This has also significantly pushed up the government’s fertiliser subsidy bill, which has increased from about Rs 40,000 crore last year to an estimated Rs 95,000 crore in the current fiscal. Industry sources say the figure will most likely cross the Rs 1-lakh-crore mark. Finance minister P Chidambaram had earmarked only about Rs 31,000 crore in subsidies for fertilisers in his Union Budget this year.

In its bid to contain inflationary pressures, the government has already banned exports of primary commodities such as rice, wheat, and maize — the ban on which was imposed just yesterday. Apart from this, the government has also banned exports of cement and has imposed restrictions on exports of iron ore and steel. There has also been some pressure from the textile industry to impose a ban on cotton exports claiming that excessive exports to speculators in the international markets has led to a tightening of the domestic supply.