Food Security Ambitions Driving Ammonia Sales in India and China

Tuesday 26 March 2013, Amsterdam

Demand for ammonia is on the increase, as India and China lead a trend among emerging countries seeking to become self-sufficient in terms of food production, using ammonia-based fertilizers to do so, according a new report. The report* looks at the use of ammonia, which is primarily utilized in the manufacture of popular agricultural fertilizers, urea and ammonium nitrate, with these sectors accounting for a combined share of around 62% of ammonia demand in 2011.
Rapid growth in the global population is generating increased demand for food and providing a sustained demand for agricultural chemicals, particularly fertilizers. Governments worldwide are seeking to provide food security to their nations, particularly in developing and underdeveloped countries which can not necessarily afford extensive imports. While demand in the developed regions of North America and Europe has largely stabilized or is registering slow growth, many poorer nations still have low per unit area fertilizer utilization, offering substantial market potential for ammonia based fertilizers in the future.
Asia-Pacific accounted for a 58.7% share of global demand for ammonia in 2011, with China and India accounting for the majority of this. China and India’s large populations and growing economies promise substantial consumption potential, reflected in the high growth of ammonia downstream segments such as urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulphate and phosphate. As a result, ammonia demand from the Asia-Pacific region will continue to drive global demand in future. Global demand for ammonia increased from 96,437,749 tons in 2000 to 120,779,623 tons in 2011, and is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.2% to reach 160,093,693 tons in 2020.