Some fertilizers enhance the soil’s ability to retain water and aerate by furnishing air to plant roots or before seeding.
The three principal macronutrients used in fertilizers are nitrogen (leaf growth), phosphorus (root, flower, seed and fruit development), and potassium (stem growth, water movement within plants, and promotion of flowering or fruiting).
The focus of this analysis is on the top exporters of pure nitrogenous fertilizers by country.
Pure nitrogenous fertilizers attracted 45% of worldwide spending on all fertilizers exported in 2022 regardless of fertilizer ingredients.
The value of pure nitrogenous fertilizers exported during 2022 totaled US$60.1 billion.
That dollar amount results from a 178.1% increase from $21.6 billion in 2018, and a 69.4% acceleration compared to $35.5 billion for 2021.
Top Suppliers of Pure Nitrogenous Fertilizers
Listed below are the 25 major suppliers of straight nitrogenous fertilizers as measured by dollar spend. Excluded are fertilizers in tablet form or in individual packages weighing less than or equal to 10 kilograms (about 22 pounds).
The leading exporters accounted for 87.9% of total international sales for pure nitrogenous fertilizers.
- Russia: US$7.2 billion (up 61.5% from 2021)
- Oman: $5 billion (up 232.1%)
- China: $4.9 billion (up 10.7%)
- Qatar: $3.6 billion (up 48.4%)
- Saudi Arabia: $3.2 billion (up 87%)
- Iran: $2.9 billion (up 58.3%)
- Netherlands: $2.8 billion (up 50.8%)
- Belgium: $2.6 billion (up 126.5%)
- Algeria: $2.3 billion (up 69.6%)
- United States: $2.1 billion (up 272.7%)
- Germany: $2 billion (up 86.5%)
- Nigeria: $1.92 billion (up 102%)
- Egypt: $1.88 billion (up 62.9%)
- Malaysia: $1.42 billion (up 62.9%)
- Poland: $1.37 billion (up 92.7%)
- Indonesia: $1.1 billion (up 41.9%)
- Canada: $947.5 million (up 29.1%)
- Lithuania: $919.1 million (up 44.4%)
- Trinidad/Tobago: $834.1 million (up 12%)
- Slovakia: $784.6 million (up 79.5%)
- Turkmenistan: $654.3 million (up 110.3%)
- Vietnam: $629.5 million (up 141%)
- Spain: $617.6 million (up 111.9%)
- France: $604 million (up 147.4%)
- Türkiye: $526.2 million (up 196.5%)
Posting triple-digit growth in sales of nitrogenous fertilizers on global markets were exporters in the United States of America (up 272.7% from 2021), Oman (up 232.1%), Türkiye (up 196.5%), France (up 147.4%), Vietnam (up 141%), Belgium (up 126.5%), Spain (up 111.9%), Turkmenistan (up 110.3%) then Nigeria (up 110.3%).
The most modest year-over-year gains were recorded by nitrogenous fertilizer suppliers in mainland China (up 10.7% from 2021), Trinidad and Tobago (up 12%) and Canada (up 29.1%).
Major Customers for Selected Nitrogenous Fertilizer Exporters
The world’s number one international supplier, the Russian Federation, sold the bulk of its pure nitrogenous fertilizer exports to buyers in Brazil (24.6% of total Russian sales), United States (15.2%), Finland (7.3%), Estonia (5.5%) and Switzerland (4.2%).
Oman’s major customers for its pure nitrogenous fertilizer exports were India (43.8% of total Omani sales), United States (18.4%), Brazil (14.3%), Thailand (5.6%) and South Africa (3.6%).
Mainland China’s leading customers for its pure nitrogenous fertilizer exports were Brazil (20.5% of total Chinese sales), India (15.9%), Türkiye (5.4%), Vietnam (5.2%) and South Korea (5.1%).
Shifting our focus to North American suppliers, the United States of America generated 3.6% of overall global export sales for straight nitrogenous fertilizers compared to 12% for Russia, 8.3% for Oman, and 8.2% for mainland China.
The principal buyers of pure nitrogenous fertilizers exported from the United States were Canada (35.5% of total American sales), Mexico (12.3%), France (10.7%), Brazil (5.4%) and Belgium (4.6%).
Canada is a relatively smaller provider of nitrogen-based fertilizers on global markets, accounting for just 1.6% of the world’s total sales.
In addition, Canadian exporters of pure nitrogenous fertilizers depend on one big buyer.
The United States of America imported 99.7% worth of the total $947.5 million that Canada shipped worldwide in 2022. That percentage eclipses the tiny 0.14% sold to Australia and the even smaller 0.07% imported by buyers in Indonesia.
See also Top Fertilizers Exports by Country, Flower Bouquet Exports by Country Plus Average Prices, Wheat Exports by Country and Corn Exports by Country
Research Sources:
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on December 10, 2023
Wikipedia, Fertilizer. Accessed on December 10, 2023