The year ahead – new geopolitical rules
We look ahead at fertilizer industry prospects for the next 12 months, and the key economic and agricultural drivers likely to shape the market.
We look ahead at fertilizer industry prospects for the next 12 months, and the key economic and agricultural drivers likely to shape the market.
Could demand mandates help the build the market for green fertilizers – by placing mandatory purchasing requirements on large-scale end users?
South America has become the largest importing region for nitrogen fertilizers, with Brazil overtaking India as the world’s largest urea importer. While there have been attempts to use local gas to develop a domestic nitrogen industry, these have faced challenges on a number of fronts.
Nitric acid demand continues to be dominated by fertilizer uses via various nitrate and NPK fertilizers, but industrial chemical production, metallurgical uses and explosives production are continuing to contribute to growth, especially in Asia.
In this CRU Insight, Peter Harrisson reports on how battery materials have become a powerful driver of sulphur consumption growth.
New sulphur production from Chinese and Indian refineries and Middle Eastern sour gas and the ramp up of nickel leaching projects in Indonesia continue to change the direction of sulphur trade.
Titanium dioxide is one of the major chemical uses for sulphuric acid outside of phosphate and metals processing, and sulphate route plants remain concentrated in China.
Increased merchant ammonia capacity over the next few years may lead to longer term price declines.
Vatren Jurin of DunhamTrimmer proposes a sophisticated methodology that accurately tracks the global value-added fertilizer market.
In this CRU Insight, Anthony Rizzo explains why market participants should expect an uneven global demand picture in 2026 and highlights regional variations.