Fertilizer Market Report – November 15, 2023

Canada Emerges Among Top 10 Urea Importers, Unveiling Opportunities for Domestic Production

Fertilizer Market Report 2023/11/15

Interesting to see that Canada is one of the top 10 importers of urea and number seven on the list of consumers of urea with imports of 1,191,700mt and consumption of 4,167,800mt annually. This indicates that there is clearly room for more domestic production capacity.

Source: By Ebrahim Argha

News of the Week

Liberal Fertilizer Plan Could Cost Western Farmers C$841 Million

The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) estimates that canola revenues could drop by C$441m and wheat revenues could fall by C$400m. SARM, the group representing rural municipalities in Saskatchewan, projects that wheat and canola farmers in Western Canada could lose $841 million in revenues should they adopt the Liberal government’s 30% fertilizer emission reduction target.

SARM says the federal government’s emission reduction strategy, which calls for a 30% absolute nitrogen fertilizer emission reduction below 2020 levels by 2030, has been imposed without prior consultation with the fertilizer industry or the farmers who would bear the brunt of its economic consequences.

China Bans Exports of Fertilizers Again

For the second time in the last few months, China has banned exports of urea and phosphate fertilizers. This was done to protect domestic supplies. This ban is expected to stay in place for the next two months. This news was not widely distributed in a formal communication, but an informal message was circulated to suppliers. In our view, this ban will help support fertilizer prices globally as China is one of the largest producers and exporters of fertilizer as evidenced in the chart above.

North America Urea Last Week

The urea price lows and highs in Western Canada tightened slightly to a range of C$750-C$760/mt DEL from the previous week’s C$740-C$770/mt DEL. We continue to hear terminal offers at C$740/mt FOB, according to Green Markets. Last week, urea NOLA fell to a range of US$340-US$350/mt from the previous week’s range of US$355-$365/st.

North America Phosphate Last Week

According to Green Markets, the latest MAP offers in Western Canada were higher last week to a range of C$1,050-$1,060/mt DEL, up from the previous week’s C$1,035-$1,050/mt DEL.

The latest MAP NOLA prices were down to US$600-US$630/mt last week from a range of US$600-$640/mt the previous week.