New Delhi, June 10 -- India's fertilizer subsidy burden could ease after the government's latest tender to import 1.7 million tonnes (mt) of urea drew sharply lower landed price bids, relieving pressure on public finances strained by supply disruptions from the West Asia war.

The urea import tender by National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL) received landed price (cost-plus-freight) quotes in a range of $444.9-449.3 per tonne, two people aware of the development said. This is less than half the levels seen in an earlier procurement, which had drawn bids of $935-959 per tonne, with industry executives attributing the drop to China easing export curbs.

"State-run National Fertilizers Ltd received the lowest bids from Aditya Birla Global Trading, wh...