Asia-Pacific Fertilizer Market Outlook 2027

Asia Pacific region has a favourable weather that best suits agriculture and so is the foremost occupation of the people. China and India together constitute for 36% of the world’s population. Such expanding population directly relates to increased food production. Fertilizer is the indispensable part of this. New land is inevitable and the existing land areas are being converted for other uses. This means intensification of existing land areas with good amounts of fertilizer nutrients. Asia Pacific region is dooming from a naturally fertile soil to a fertilizer dependent soil. Countries like Japan, Korea and Taiwan are estimated to be applying theomax in agriculture with no extra yields. Asian countries lack soil testing that are effective than other western countries. This is due to high prices for soil testing and an average Asian farmer cannot afford to shell out more than his income.

According to the research report Asia Pacific Fertilizer Market Outlook, 2027 the fertilizer market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 5.67% by 2027. China is the principal market for fertilizers in this region as one of the major fertilizer exporter, producer and consumer. Less arable land results in repetitive use of fertilizers on same piece of land. Complex fertilizers are expected to be growing in demand by farmers at a rapid rate while nitrogen fertilizer is indispensable fertilizer. The fertilizer raw materials are highly fragmented and unequally found around the world as a result of which the transportation costs are very high. Nitrogen and Phosphorus fertilizers amount for majority market share in Asia Pacific. Dry fertilizers are expected to grow enormously in this region during the forecast period as liquid fertilizers are associated with high costs.

China is estimated to be exporting around five to six Million Tonnes of fertilizers to the world in a year. Chinese government banned the fertilizer exports in lieu of prices skyrocketing in their home country due to scarcity of fertilizers. This move had a drastic effect on the world fertilizer markets. China is the largest producer of phosphates and exported to USA, India, Pakistan and South East Asia. Chinese Agriculture Industry Development reported to have set a goal to become self - sufficient in staple food grains like rice, wheat, corn by 2035. China’s 2021 stats showed grain production hit a new level of 685 Billion Kg with significant rise in production of rice, wheat, corn, potatoes while, and beans production fell drastically.

Japan has 12.13% arable land as per 2018 stats but is short of labour. Japan is more prone to floods and the soil is not suitable for cultivation except some parts. However, they have come up with an idea of vertical farming which causes less or no use of fertilizers. The northern island of Hokkaido, accounts for 10% of Japan’s agriculture production. India’s Green Revolution has proved to be successful in food grain production and the demand for fertilizers has grown double over the years. Though India has increased fertilizer use, when compared to developed countries it is still low. The fertilizer use is also uneven with respect to state, district or region. However, government measures to organise campaigns for educating farmers on fertilizers and promotional advertisements through radio, television is anticipated to increase the fertilizer use further.

Plants need all the three nutrients for their overall growth namely, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. In spite of being naturally available plants cannot absorb these nutrients and so are created in fertilizer form for absorption by plants. Nitrogen is mainly available from the natural air, but ammonia is a combination of air, hydrogen and natural gas. Plants need the nitrogen to take up from the roots as they are unable to absorb naturally present nitrogen in air. Since millions of years ago potassium is found from sea beds that are formed there naturally. The woods ashes left behind after burning is high in potassium and the name potash has originated from these phenomena. Again this potassium’s are deep down the soil from which plants cannot absorb them. The largest potassium deposits are found in Russia, Belarus, Canada and China. Phosphates are an insoluble calcium rock that plants cannot absorb directly. China, Russia and Morocco have some of the world’s biggest rock phosphate reserves.

Fertilizers need to be applied to combat malnutrition of plants and the key to increased crop yields. However, the nutrients that are required for plant growth are also essential for humans. Half of today’s world population is fed food due to the existence of these fertilizers. The factors driving the fertilizer market in this region are technology developments, increased production of fertilizers, decreased arable land, increased food demands. However, bio fertilizers are likely to hamper the growth of fertilizer market as consumers are becoming alert about the global warming and hazardous effects of overuse fertilizers. Another major hindrance was the COVID pandemic due to which world markets came to a standstill from farm production to final consumer. China undergoing lockdown disrupted the global supply chain.

Major Companies present in the market

The Mosaic Company, Yara International, Nutrien Limited, K+S Aktiengesellschaft, OCP Group, CF Industries Holdings, Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM), National Fertilizers Limited Coromandel International Limited, EuroChem Group, Wesfarmers, Indian Farmers Fertilizer Co-operative Limited (IFFCO)

Considered in this report

• Geography: Asia Pacific
• Base year: 2021
• Estimated year: 2022
• Forecast year: 2027

Aspects covered in this report

• Asia Pacific fertilizer market with its value and forecast along with its segments
• Country-wise fertilizer market analysis
• Various drivers and challenges
• On-going trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

Countries covered in the report

• China
• India
• Japan
• Australia

Types of fertilizer by nutrient in the report

• Nitrogenous fertilizer (Urea, ammonium sulphate, Calcium ammonium nitrate/ammonium nitrate, others UAN, anhydrous ammonia etc.)
• Phosphate fertilizer (Diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate, others phosphate rock, superphosphates etc.)
• Potash fertilizer (Muriate of potash/potassium chloride, sulphate of potash others potassium nitrate etc.)
• Complex fertilizer (NPK, NK, PK, NP compounds etc.)

By Product type in the report:

• Urea
• Ammonium sulphate
• Calcium ammonium nitrate/Ammonium nitrate
• Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP)
• Mono-ammonium phosphate (MAP)
• Muriate of potash (MOP)/(KCl)
• Sulphate of potash (SOP)
• Complex (NPK, NK, PK, NP)

By physical formulation in the report:

• Dry
• Liquid

The approach of the report:

This report consists of a combined approach of primary as well as secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and listing out the companies that are present in the market. The secondary research consists of third party sources such as press releases, annual report of companies, analysing the government generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources primary research was conducted by making telephonic interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducted trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this we have started doing primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting consumers in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us we have started verifying the details obtained from secondary sources.

Intended audience

This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations & organizations related to fertilizer industry, government bodies and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing & presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.