From Farm To Factory - Ammonia is one of the world's most produced chemicals. Because of its high nitrogen content, ammonia is mainly used as a fertilizer or as the base material for the production of other fertilizers, such as urea or fertilizer mixes. Additionally, ammonia is used in industrial applications, including refrigeration engineering, cleaning, textile finishing and the manufacturing of various other chemical products.

Increased Demand in Industry and Agriculture

The market research institute Ceresana is forecasting the global ammonia market to generate revenues of about $102 billion in 2019. Continuous population growth in developing and emerging countries is likely to cause demand for foodstuffs to increase even further. As the amount of arable land declines, ammonia-based nitrogen fertilizers will continue to gain importance. The industry as well is likely to increase ammonia demand once the effects of the global economic crisis have worn off.

Strong Growth Impulses from Populous Countries

The most important sales market for ammonia is Asia-Pacific, which consumes about half of global demand. Populous emerging countries such as China and India in particular are likely to continue to increase demand for ammonia at dynamic rates. However, the Middle East is also expected to generate above-average growth rates because of the construction of facilities in downstream industries, e.g., urea production.

New Technology as Basis for Cost-Effective Production in the U.S.

Production locations are undergoing a geographical shift toward Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. "Global ammonia capacity of currently about 198 million tons is likely to increase by about 35 million tons," said Oliver Kutsch, CEO of Ceresana.

About two-thirds of these additional capacities are to be created in these two regions. The Middle East in particular is able to profit from substantial natural gas resources that allow for ammonia production at comparatively low costs. An exception to this tendency to geographical reorientation of production is the United States' likely increase in both production volume and production capacities. Utilizing fracking technology, this country is able to exploit its shale gas resources at economic prices and thus becomes a competitive location for ammonia production.

Urea As Growth Engine

This comprehensive worldwide report depicts development in the agricultural as well as the industrial sector. Plants need nitrogen as their primary nutrient, and ammonia, often in processed form, is an efficient fertilizer. Thus, the agricultural sector consumes a far larger share of ammonia (80%) than industry does. Urea made from ammonia is processed in both application areas. Industry utilizes ammonia for the manufacturing of urea-formaldehyde resins, melamine, and the urea solution AdBlue that is designed to reduce nitrogen consumption.

The Study In Brief

Chapter 1 provides a presentation and analysis of the ammonia market, including forecasts up to 2019. In addition to revenues, demand and production are explained in detail. This chapter also explores the development of individual regions and global market dynamics.
In chapter 2, 25 countries are analyzed in detail: ammonia demand, revenues, production, capacities, as well as imports and exports in the past eight years. In addition, this chapter provides forecasts up to 2019 for selected countries.

Chapter 3 offers a useful directory of producers covering the most important producers of ammonia, clearly arranged according to contact details, turnover, profit, product range, summary profile, associated companies and production sites as well as current and future capacities. Detailed profiles are given for 125 ammonia producers, such as Agrofert, EuroChem, GPN, Koch Fertilizer, OMIFCO, Orascom Construction Industries, Ostchem, PCS, SINOPEC, Togliattiazot, Yara and Zaklady Azotowe Pulawy.