On April 19, the 2018 Nitrogenous Fertilizer Industry Working Meeting and the Fourth Session of the Sixth China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association were held in Beijing. The China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association stated that the overall situation of the nitrogen fertilizer market this year will be better than last year. Promoting the nitrogen fertilizer industry to advance into the advanced manufacturing industry is a breakthrough and core task for high-quality development.

Gu Zongqin, chairman of the China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association, said that after losing money for three consecutive years, China’s nitrogenous fertilizer industry achieved profitability last year. The withdrawal of production capacity of ammonia and urea, the significant drop in output, the reduction in consumption, the significant reduction in exports, and the significant increase in prices were the key features of the industry last year.

For this year’s industry situation, Gao Li, deputy secretary general of the China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association, said that the overall situation of the nitrogen fertilizer market this year will be better than last year. This year, the supply and demand of nitrogen fertilizers will be basically balanced, and exports are expected to decline further. The import volume will increase, but the increase will be limited. In the second quarter of this year, the nitrogen fertilizer market is expected to be booming. In the long run, the demand for traditional nitrogen fertilizers will continue to fall, while demand for high-efficiency fertilizers will be strong.

According to Pan Aihua, Deputy Director of the Department of Raw Materials of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the promotion of the nitrogen fertilizer industry towards advanced manufacturing is a breakthrough and core task for the nitrogen fertilizer industry to achieve high quality development. The nitrogen fertilizer industry can proceed from the changes in development quality, the changes in the development benefits, and the changes in the development momentum, focusing on improving total factor productivity, and vigorously implementing ecological and intelligent transformation.

At the meeting, the China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association introduced the characteristics of the economic operation of the nitrogen fertilizer industry last year: First, the total production capacity continued to decrease, and excess production capacity was alleviated. According to statistics, the withdrawal of ammonia production capacity last year was about 4 million tons, and the withdrawal of urea production capacity was about 3.8 million tons. Second, the market price has rebounded significantly, and the industry’s profits have turned into losses. Last year, the average ex-factory price of urea increased by 24.6% year-on-year, the industry’s main business revenue increased by 15.4% year-on-year, and the industry’s total profit increased from a net loss of approximately 9.8 billion yuan to a profit of approximately 3.8 billion yuan. The third is that the operating rate has decreased significantly and the output has decreased significantly. The average operating rate last year was only 58%, down 4% year-on-year, the lowest level since 2011. Last year, the country produced cumulatively 38.305 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer, which was 8.6% lower than the same period of last year. The production of urea (physical quantity) was 53.371 million tons, down 13.8%. Fourth, the demand for agriculture continues to decrease, and nitrogen fertilizer consumption continues to decline. Last year, the apparent consumption of nitrogen fertilizer in the country was 32.76 million tons (equivalent), which was a year-on-year decrease of 4.4%, of which the apparent consumption of urea was 46.86 million tons, down 8% year-on-year. Fifth, the export of nitrogen fertilizers has been greatly reduced, and imports have shown an increasing trend. According to customs statistics, last year, the country exported 5.546 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer (refine), a year-on-year decrease of 24.2%; imported nitrogen fertilizer was 241,000 tons (recovered), an increase of 10.6% year-on-year.