Fertilizer industry worldwide - statistics & facts
Mineral or chemical fertilizers are widely used to improve soil fertility. Overall, the fertilizer market is composed of the three primary nutrients that play an important role in the growth of plants, namely nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. From these, nitrogen is the most important, accounting for approximately 59 percent of the global fertilizer nutrient consumption in 2024. Calcium, sulfur, and magnesium are also used in fertilizers to a lesser extent.Â
Fertilizer production
Nitrogen fertilizers, such as urea and ammonium sulfate, are manufactured from ammonia through chemical processes, while the production of phosphate and potash fertilizers includes mining operations. As such, the manufacturing of nitrogen fertilizers is more evenly distributed regionally, whereas phosphate and potash fertilizer production is concentrated in certain areas. Countries like Canada, Belarus, and Russia hold the majority of potash production capacity worldwide. In the case of phosphate fertilizers, China is by far the largest producer.
Main companies
Nutrien, a Canadian company that resulted from the merger of PotashCorp and Agrium in 2018, is the world's leading potash manufacturer and one of the leading fertilizer producers in general. In 2024, Nutrien’s revenue reached 26 billion U.S. dollars and their number of employees reached 25.5 thousand. Other big players in the fertilizer industry include Wesfarmers, Yara, the Mosaic Company, and CF Industries.
Outlook
Economic and population growth are the largest drivers for increases in fertilizer consumption. In the next years, fertilizer demand is expected to remain fairly stable in mature markets such as Europe and North America. Meanwhile, Latin America and Asia are expected to drive the growth in global fertilizer demand. Overall, the world’s fertilizer demand is forecast to reach 224 million metric tons of nutrients by 2029.
