Title page
Contents
Acknowledgements 2
Executive summary 6
1. Introduction 9
1.1. Country coverage 10
2. Overview of the international mineral fertiliser market 14
2.1. Production of the main mineral fertilisers 14
2.2. Global trends in fertiliser use and trade 15
2.3. Nitrogen (N)-based mineral fertilisers 18
2.4. Phosphorus (P)-based mineral fertilisers 20
2.5. Potassium (K)-based mineral fertilisers 22
2.6. Market issues associated with mineral fertilisers 25
3. Policy objectives for fertilisers 29
3.1. Framework for analysing policy objectives and measures 29
3.2. Summary of policy objectives for mineral fertilisers 30
4. Policy measures for fertilisers 32
4.1. Policies supporting mineral fertiliser use by farmers 33
4.2. Policies assisting domestic production of mineral fertilisers 44
4.3. Policies encouraging organic fertiliser use by farmers or production 45
4.4. Other policies reducing mineral fertiliser use by farmers 47
5. Potential and challenges for the use of organic fertilisers 49
5.1. Potential for the use of organic fertilisers 49
5.2. Challenges for the use of organic fertilisers 54
6. Conclusion 57
References 60
Annex A 67
Table 1.1. Annual average agricultural use of mineral fertilisers by nutrient content in selected countries, 2019-2021 12
Table 1.2. Annual average agricultural use, production and trade of mineral fertilisers by total nutrient content in selected countries, 2019-21 13
Table 2.1. Contribution of top 3, top 5, top 10 and top 20 countries to total exports and total imports of mineral fertilisers by nutrient content, 2019-2021 25
Table 2.2. Major fertiliser manufacturing companies 27
Table 3.1. Policy objectives for fertilisers in selected countries 31
Table 4.1. Use of the policy framework to categorise policy measures contained in the European Commission's Communication on ensuring availability and affordability... 32
Table 4.2. Average applied MFN and bound tariffs for fertilisers in the selected 52 countries, 2023 34
Table 4.3. Imposition of export measures since 2021 35
Table 4.4. Export quotas imposed on fertilisers by Russia 35
Table 4.5. Policy measures supporting fertiliser use within the OECD PSE database, 2000-2022 37
Table 4.6. EU Member states providing state aid for the purpose of compensating farmers for higher fertiliser prices 43
Table 6.1. Summary of market factors for the five major mineral fertiliser users 58
Figure 1.1. Fertiliser prices, January 2020 to December 2023 (index 2014-2016=100) 9
Figure 2.1. Production of the main fertiliser products 15
Figure 2.2. Growth in world agricultural use of mineral fertilisers and animal manure by nutrient content, 2000-2021 15
Figure 2.3. World agricultural use of mineral fertilisers and animal manure by nutrient content, 1999-2001 and 2019-2021 17
Figure 2.4. World exports of mineral fertilisers as a share of production by nutrient content, 2000-2021 17
Figure 2.5. Main agricultural users, producers, and traders of nitrogen-based fertilisers, 2019-2021 18
Figure 2.6. Mineral fertiliser use by N nutrient content in selected major 26 countries, 2019-2021 19
Figure 2.7. Mineral fertiliser use by N nutrient content in selected other 26 countries, 2019-2021 20
Figure 2.8. Main agricultural users, producers and traders of phosphorus-based fertilisers, 2019-2021 21
Figure 2.9. Mineral fertiliser use by P nutrient content in selected major 26 countries, 2019-2021 21
Figure 2.10. Mineral fertiliser use by P nutrient content in selected other 26 countries, 2019-2021 22
Figure 2.11. Main agricultural users, producers and traders of potassium-based fertilisers, 2019-2021 23
Figure 2.12. Mineral fertiliser use by K nutrient content in selected major 26 countries, 2019-2021 24
Figure 2.13. Mineral fertiliser use by K nutrient content in selected other 26 countries, 2019-2021 24
Figure 2.14. Spot energy price indexes, 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 (2017=100) 26
Figure 3.1. Framework for classifying policy objectives and measures by purpose 29
Figure 4.1. Producer support for agricultural fertiliser use in selected countries, 2000-2022 39
Figure 4.2. Support for agricultural fertiliser use in selected countries as a share of budgetary support, gross farm receipts and per tonne of nutrients applied, 2020-2022 40
Figure 5.1. Agricultural use of animal manure (N nutrient content) in selected major 26 countries, 2019-2021 51
Figure 5.2. Agricultural use of animal manure (N nutrient content) in selected other 26 countries, 2019-2021 51
Figure 5.3. Potential of household wastewater to replace mineral fertilisers used in agricultural production for N, P and K in selected major 26 countries, 2021 53
Figure 5.4. Potential of household wastewater to replace mineral fertilisers used in agricultural production for N, P and K in selected other 26 countries, 2021 53
Boxes
Box 1. Fertiliser market data from FAOSTAT 11
Box 2. Scenario analysis on the interconnected dynamics of fertiliser and agricultural markets 40
Box Figures
Figure 1. FAO food price index 41
Figure 2. Change of emissions in Scenario vs Baseline (2030) 42
Annex Tables
Table A A.1. Top 20 users, producers and traders of mineral fertilisers by N content, 2019-2021 67
Table A A.2. Top 20 users, producers and traders of mineral fertilisers by P content, 2019-2021 67
Table A A.3. Top 20 users, producers and traders of mineral fertilisers by K content, 2019-2021 68
Table A A.4. Total household wastewater generated, collected and treated by country, 2021 69