Fertilizer Industry by Numbers

The fertilizer industry is responsible for the production, trade and consumption of millions of tonnes of plant nutrients each year.

IFA’s Market Intelligence Service provides regularly updated reports and statistics on these volumes, which can be found at www.IFASTAT.org.

The fertilizer industry also makes a vital contribution to the economy, through sales, employment and investment. The infographic below highlights these contributions.

Industry Value

fertilizer consumption

$290 billion

estimated value of the fertilizer industry in 2022

Fertilizer industry value defined as the estimated value of fertilizers sold at the wholesale level globally;

* Values rounded to nearest billion US dollars.

Industry Value

fertilizer production

$290 billion

estimated value of the fertilizer industry in 2022

Fertilizer industry calculated based on the amount of fertilizers produced regionally and valued at local wholesale price level;

* Values rounded to nearest billion US dollars.

1.9 million

estimated employment in the global fertilizer industry in 2022

506,000

in fertilizer production

1.4 million

in fertilizer distribution

Employment in fertilizer production quantifies the number of employees associated with the production and sale of fertilizers to the factory gate. Employment in fertilizer distribution includes the number of employees associated with the storage, wholesale and retail of fertilizers.

Industry Employment

Industry investment

in production capacity

$90 billion

capital expenditure in new capacity under development

Includes upstream investments in mining where applicable, and low-carbon projects including ammonia without guarantee that they will supply the fertilizer industry. Projects included according to S&P Global base case supply forecasts, 2023

Data source:
S&P Global Commodity Insights │Fertecon