In 2005-2013, the global market for urea showed sustainable growth. The recession of 2008-2009 did not impact the market significantly and it continued growing.
In 2005, the global urea output was slightly over 129.2 million tonnes and it almost reached 162 million tonnes in 2012. In 2013, the output amounted to approximately 172 million tonnes.
Region-wise, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa as well as Europe are the largest urea producers. In 2013, Asia Pacific produced around 109.5 million tonnes of urea, the Middle East and Africa – 26.5 million tonnes of urea in total and Europe produced almost 19.5 million tonnes of urea.
Country-wise, China, India, Indonesia, the USA and Pakistan form top five urea producers. China produced 68 million tonnes of urea in 2013, while India and Indonesia produced 21 million tonnes and 7 million tonnes in the same year, respectively.
Urea: structure of the global production by country, 2013
The largest urea capacity belongs to Asia-Pacific. It reached 122.7 million tonnes per year in 2013. The Middle East and Africa, Europe and North America also own significant urea capacities.
Country-wise, China, India, Indonesia, the USA and Russia have the largest urea capacities. For instance, the urea capacity was more than 75.7 million tonnes per year in China in 2013.
The urea consumption demonstrates growth on an annual basis. It stood at approximately 150 million tonnes in 2010 and hit the 172 million tonnes mark in 2013.
Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe are the top three year urea consumers.
Urea: structure of the global consumption broken down by region, 2013 (tonnes)
Upcoming capacity adds (in China in particular) will lead to the considerable increase in the urea production. As a result, the global output is expected to reach 200 million tonnes in 2017. The urea capacity, in the meantime, is forecast to be around 245 million tonnes per year in 2018.
More information on the urea market can be found in the insightful research study “Urea: 2014 World Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2018”.