Causes for Fertilizer Market Recession in First Half of 2013

By CnAgri2013-07-19 14:16:56 Print While fertilizer production hit 68.4 million MT (nutrient) in 2012, fertilizer market was sluggish in the first half of this year. Neither traders nor farmers were active in purchasing fertilizer. Fertilizer exports appeared dull, too.
 
The fundamental cause behind the market recession was the economic downturn both at home and abroad. Fertilizer raw material price went down, unable to prop up fertilizer price. Traders had no intention of building up a stock during the slack season of consumption.
 
Moreover, fertilizer productive capacity outran demand. MAP and DAP capacity, for instance, exceeded demand by 50% in the first half of this year. Urea production totaled 28.88 million MT (product) in January ~ May, an increase of 10% on the year-on-year basis.
 
The fertilizer industry is going through a structural optimization presently and fertilizer production is getting more concentrated in large enterprises.

From “China Fertilizer Market Weekly Report”